Meat processing company Olymel will permanently close its Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu plant this summer, a move that affects 135 employees.
The company’s management explained in a news release that the plant, which processed poultry and pork products, was operating at only 40 per cent capacity.
The plant is closing its doors for good on July 19.
Employees were notified on Friday. Of the 135 workers affected, 30 have temporary foreign worker status and 23 are non-regulated employees.
This marks the eighth Olymel plant closure since 2021.
Olymel says it will relocate any employee who wants to remain with the company to its other plants in need of workers, whether in Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Saint-Damase, Ange-Gardien or Boucherville, Que.
The closure of its Vallée-Jonction plant in 2023 was one of the most significant, with a workforce of nearly 1,000.
Olymel has been restructuring for the past two years as Quebec pork industry exports have been declining.
Since then, however, the company has returned to profitability, with a $138.3 million surplus in 2023, compared to a $446.1 million loss in 2022.