Canada’s pork and poultry meat processor Olymel has decided to make an investment in the Ange-Gardien pork processing plant in Montérégie-Est, Quebec, to expand its production capacity.

Olymel’s Quebec facility is engaged in hog slaughtering, cutting, and deboning activities.

With an investment of C$9m ($7m), the company intends to establish a second shift at the facility, which will see the creation of 250 new jobs.

The second shift is expected to come into operation by September.

The facility currently has a workforce of 680 people and the investment is expected to increase this to more than 900.

Olymel said that the renovation works are already underway at the facility to accommodate the second shift.

As part of this initiative, the company will be adding additional freezing capacity and expanding the cafeteria and employee parking areas.

The facility will also upgrade its wastewater treatment equipment.

Upon completion of the expansion, the Ange-Gardien facility will gradually increase weekly slaughter capacity from 25,000 to 35,000 hogs.

Depending on the market needs, this plant should be able to reach a slaughter capacity of 50,000 hogs a week.

Olymel president and CEO Réjean Nadeau said: “This announcement is in line with Olymel’s development strategy and growth objectives. Olymel is capitalising on synergies from the January 2020 acquisition of F Ménard, one of the leaders of the Quebec pork industry.

“With this investment, our company will have the opportunity to devote a greater part of its activities to value-added products and will be able to consolidate its position in its domestic and international markets.

“With the completion of this project, Olymel remains a major player in the agri-food processing industry in Quebec and Canada and is helping create stable jobs that are revitalising our regions, in this case, Montérégie.”

In November 2017, Olymel invested more than C$30m ($23.5m) to acquire a new plant and expanded its existing Orenda poultry processing plant in Brampton, Ontario.

The Olymel Orenda plant specialises in processing poultry products, including breaded and frozen chicken products using the individual quick-frozen (IQF) method. The plant has a workforce of nearly 320 people.