A British-based firm processing proteins for the retail and foodservice sectors plans to set up shop somewhere in Eastern Canada, after reaching a deal to supply meat products to Walmart’s Canadian grocery business.
Hilton Food Group announced Thursday it plans to open a new manufacturing plant in that region to supply Walmart Supercentres in Canada with “a range of protein products” starting with beef, lamb, pork and seafood.
London-based Hilton won’t yet say exactly where or when it expects to have that plant up and running, but has targeted 2026 to start production.
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A company representative said via email that at the time of its launch, the Canadian plant will “primarily focus on burgers, meatballs, sausages and marinated products,” processing and packaging them on-site.
As for the meats’ origin, the Hilton rep said “we are aiming towards Canadian sourcing whenever possible, in line with Walmart’s current sourcing strategy.”
Hilton said it will lease a facility and make its major “principal expenditure” in that site and equipment starting in 2024 and continuing “throughout 2025.”
Hilton said it would operate in Canada through a new subsidiary, Hilton Foods Canada, and will debt-finance the new operation, adding its “leverage is expected to remain at comfortable levels during this investment phase.”
Hilton described the deal with Walmart as “long-term” and “a significant step forward” for both companies in meeting increasing consumer demand across Canada for “high quality, good value and increasingly sustainable protein products.”
‘Consistent’
Walmart Canada last year announced it would increase its beef buy from certified-sustainable Canadian cattle producers by one million pounds, up from 1.5 million in 2021.
Walmart’s U.S. parent has taken an increasingly hands-on approach to meat sourcing in recent months. Walmart in June said it will invest US$257 million to open its own case-ready beef plant southwest of Kansas City in 2025.
That plant would be supplied with Angus beef by Sustainable Beef, a Nebraska cattle company in which Walmart took a minority stake in 2022. Sustainable Beef plans to put up a beef packing plant at North Platte in western Nebraska, to open by late 2024.
As for the Canadian further-processing plant, “this agreement further extends our global footprint and will be our first manufacturing facility in North America,” Hilton Foods Group CEO Steve Murrells said in Thursday’s release. Hilton today has 24 packing, processing and distribution plants across Europe and in Australia and New Zealand.
Murrells described the deal as “another sign of the strength of our customer offer, as well as growing consumer demand for high-quality, affordable protein products, which we can deliver through our scale, international experience and supply chain expertise.”
Sam Wankowski, chief merchandising officer for Walmart’s Canadian arm, said the retail chain is “strengthening our delivery of quality products at low prices and with more sustainable packaging to Canadians, while still continuing to support Canadian farms and ranches.”
Working directly with Hilton “will ultimately provide Canadians with fresh, consistent Walmart-brand protein in the sizes and cuts they’re looking for,” Walmart Canada’s vice-president for food, Sourabh Malik, said in the same release.
‘Trade barriers’
The British processor’s planned entry to Canada comes as Canadian beef sector organizations ramp up a campaign calling on the federal government to postpone approval for the United Kingdom’s entry to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) free trade bloc.
Groups including the Canadian Cattle Association, Canadian Meat Council and National Cattle Feeders’ Association last week launched a campaign dubbed “Say No To A Bad Deal.”
They’re asking Ottawa not to approve U.K. access to the CPTPP until it can reach a separate bilateral free trade pact with the U.K., which lifts “technical, non-tariff trade barriers” now keeping Canadian beef out of the British market.
The U.K.’s entry to the CPTPP bloc would allow it to export over $50 million of meat products into Canada, “while Canada will be unable to export any meat products into their market,” the CCA said in a release Sept. 12.
The CCA and CMC, along with the Canadian Pork Council, had already said earlier this year they would oppose CPTPP access for the U.K. and, “failing that, we are asking Parliament to ensure producers and processors for both products are fairly compensated for the damages and losses that will result.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network
