The second of two canola processing plants in the city of Yorkton has held its official grand opening. The LDM Foods plant, which is a partnership with Mitsui and Co. of Japan and Louis Dreyfus, has recently been completed.
The plant will crush 2,500 metric tonnes a day of seed, producing about 1,000 metric tonnes of oil and 1,500 metric tonnes of meal. The plant will be operational over 330 days a year, employing 84 full time staff.
Brian Conn, president of LDM foods, says the people who will benefit most from the plant opening will be area producers.
"We believe we're going to be a major benefit for the growers of Saskatchewan, because we're going to provide a home for their canola beyond the export markets," Conn says.
With two large-scale Canola operations opening next door to each other, Conn says there will be a bit of competition between the two companies. He also admits they do sell some of the same products. However, he says this gives growers more options to sell their seed.
The plant will market the product in North America and in overseas markets such as China, Conn explains. With the partnership with Mitsui, he notes there will be opportunities to sell to the Japanese market as well.
The priority right now is to get LDM as it stands running at peak efficiency, but Conn says they are considering expansion opportunities in the future.
Conn is appreciative of the Yorkton area as a whole for helping bring the plant to fruition.
"The support we have received from the city and from the local community has been tremendous for us at LDM. They've done an excellent job. They've been very welcoming from the beginning when we started in 2006 through to today... We are very appreciative of their support. We know we are going to have a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the growers here in Yorkton as well," Conn says.
Premier Brad Wall says the opening of the second canola plant in the area cements Yorkton as a world leader in canola production.
"It means a lot not only to Saskatchewan but to Western Canada. Yorkton is firmly entrenched with these developments as a national leader in canola oil. Forty per cent of Canada's canola comes from the province and we're crushing almost four million tonnes of canola right here in this area," Wall says.
Wall sees more international partnerships like the one at LDM taking place in the province in the future, as the New West Partnership goes on trade missions to abroad and tells "the story of Saskatchewan." He notes that the international players involved in LDM are proof that the province and Yorkton specifically are known worldwide, and people are aware of what they have to offer.
