A sugar storage sheds at the Lantic sugar factory in Montreal. Rogers Sugar is pushing back the completion date of its Lantic refinery upgrade because of slowing demand for its product.Andrej Ivanov/The Globe and Mail
Rogers Sugar Inc. RSI-T is pushing back completion of a $300-million modernization project at its aging Lantic refining factory in Montreal as growth in demand for the sweet stuff in Canada tapers off to more historic levels.
The Vancouver-based company said Thursday it will delay the commercial start of the revamped facility by about six months, to the summer of 2027. The projected cost for the work remains unchanged.
“There’s not as much pressure right now as there was when we launched the project,” chief financial officer Jean-Sébastien Couillard said in an interview. He said the company has seen domestic demand growth of 3 per cent or more in recent years but that’s now slowing to 1 to 2 per cent, meaning there is less urgency to boost supply.
It’s the first time in two decades that the Lantic Montreal plant has received a large-scale upgrade, an effort that will increase output 20 per cent and bring a significant portion of its infrastructure up to modern building codes. Everything from German-made batch centrifugal machines to walls with better fire resistance and a new rail loading station are being installed.
Rogers sells the bulk of its sugar output to multinational food producers serving the domestic and U.S. market from plants in Eastern Canada. It’s confident those customers will push on with their own investment plans in the long term. Earlier this month, Swiss-based Barry Callebaut AG officially opened its third Canadian chocolate factory in Brantford, Ont.
Rogers used to be an income trust but shifted to a corporation structure in 2011. On Thursday, the company reported net earnings of $13.7-million on revenue of $322.7-million for its latest quarter.