About 30 workers at Prince Edward Island’s Atlantic Beef Products have been laid off as the plant cuts back its weekly slaughter, CBC reported Friday.
The weekly slaughter has been reduced to 280 head, down from over 400, as a cost-control measure, CBC said, noting that the plant has recently been losing about $250,000 a month.
The company, owned by the Atlantic Beef Producers Co-operative, said it plans to cut costs to break-even levels before it moves to ramp up production again.
CBC noted many farmers in Atlantic Canada now ship cattle to U.S. plants where they can get higher returns for certain beef grades and older cull cows.
The company’s move follows a $12 million investment of federal and provincial cash in the plant in December 2007, including $6 million from the federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and $2 million each from the P.E.I., Nova Scotia and New Brunswick governments.
The governments said they consider the beef plant to be a “critical piece of infrastructure” for the Maritime beef industry, being the region’s only federally-inspected beef packing plant.
