Trucks line up to unload soybeans which are then transferred by conveyers to a cargo ship at the Parrish & Heimbecker grain terminal in the port of Hamilton, in September, 2013.The Globe and Mail
One of Canada’s oldest family-owned grain companies has brought an export terminal in the Port of Quebec with plans to expand market access to Europe and the Middle East, and to stay competitive in an increasingly consolidated grain industry.
Winnipeg-headquartered Parrish & Heimbecker‘s purchased the deep-water bulk marine export terminal last week from Société en commandite Terminal Grains, which has been operated by Sollio Agriculture since 2021.
“Quite frankly, you want to be the masters of your own domain,” said Anthony Kulbacki, president of P&H’s grain division. “You want to manage your own destiny and have the storage [and] handling capabilities to strengthen your network.”
P&H’s Port of Quebec terminal will handle corn, soybeans, wheat from Ontario and Quebec, and wheat from Western Canada, expanding throughput across the entire P&H supply chain by up to 1.5 million tonnes over the next three to five years.
It adds to P&H’s vertically integrated, nationwide network that spans 70 locations – from grain elevators, to flour and feed mills, to marine terminals. Sites span from the Port of Vancouver, to the Prairies, to Thunder Bay.
However, until the acquisition last week, the company did not have a P&H-owned terminal with year-round shipping on Canada’s East Coast. Thunder Bay freezes in the winter.
“This has given us the opportunity to take grain literally from the farm gate all the way to the end user,” Mr. Kulbacki said.
The new terminal will expand P&H’S trade in the Middle East, Europe and Central America, market diversification that comes at an opportune time. Since taking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump has disrupted trade south of the border with threats of tariffs on Canadian goods. On March 20, China imposed 100-per-cent tariffs on canola products. Canola is Canada’s most lucrative crop.
P&H’s acquisition is also part of a broader strategy to build a coast-to-coast, vertically integrated network.
P&H purchased 10 properties from Louis Dreyfus Co. in 2019. The locations spanned Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
In February, 2024, P&H said it was expanding its flour mill and terminal in Hamilton. Last August, P&H announced plans to build a new bulk agricultural terminal in Prince Edward County, Ont., and in September, it announced plans for a new mill in Red Deer, Alta. The two flour mill projects and the terminal in Prince Edward County are all under construction.
All this is necessary to stay competitive in Canada’s increasingly consolidated grain industry, Mr. Kulbacki said.
Four agricultural giants – Cargill, Richardson International, G3 (part owned by U.S.-headquartered Bunge Ltd.) and Viterra Ltd. – managed 70 per cent of elevator capacity on the Prairies and more than half of the total port terminal capacity in 2024, according to an October report from the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project.
In January, Ottawa approved the merger of Bunge and Viterra.
“There’s no question that the industry is getting smaller,” Mr. Kulbacki said, adding that the Port of Quebec acquisition is key to competing with some of these larger entities.
Sollio Agriculture – the former operator of the Port of Quebec terminal – started selling grain assets in 2021 to focus on supplying crop and livestock producers. It divested from Ontario in 2023 with the sale of five of its elevators.
“This transaction completes the exit from grain export and direct marketing activities,” company spokesperson Virginie Barbeau said. “The asset is now better positioned with global players in this sector where it will continue to serve Canadian farmers.”
With reports from Eric Atkins