One of Canada’s oldest flour mills is doubling its capacity to keep up with export demand for flour.
Rogers Foods plans to build a new $20 million mill at Chilliwack, B.C., that will produce 250 tonnes of flour a day, slightly more than its 220 tonne per day mill in Armstrong, B.C.
Lew Rossner, vice-president of administration for Rogers Foods, said the company saw the need for expansion after talking to its customers.
“We crunched the numbers and said there is an opportunity in the marketplace for us to grow.”
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Rossner said the new mill is expected to open by 2004. Rogers Foods has operated for 51 years as a flour and cereal mill.
The new plant will mill wheat into custom, high-quality flour, in bulk and bag, which will be sold to commercial bakers, food processors and distributors in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and to Pacific Rim countries.
Rogers uses mainly Canadian hard red spring wheat and some soft wheat to make flour for products that include frozen waffles, bagels, tortillas, bread, noodles and wonton wraps.
“We’re a niche company and we go after customers to fulfill their requirements,” Rossner said.
According to a 2002 Agriculture Canada bulletin, Canada produces 12,400 tonnes of wheat flour per day, an increase of 20 percent in the past five years.
Most wheat flour milling is in Eastern Canada, but there has been substantial expansion in Western Canada over the past five years. According to Agriculture Canada, the increase is the result of expansion at existing facilities and the construction of two new plants – Prairie Flour Mills in Eli, Man., and FarmGro Organic Food in Regina. FarmGro was recently placed in receivership, although it is still operating.
“Five years ago, three large milling companies accounted for about 75 percent of total flour milling capacity in Canada,” Agriculture Canada said.
“At the time, ADM Milling Company had 2,998 tonnes per day, Maple Leaf Mills had 2, 281 tonnes per day and Robin Hood Multifoods had 2,166 tonnes per day. Since then Maple Leaf Mills has sold all three of its flour milling plants, two of which were acquired by ADM Milling Company. With the acquisition of those plants in Calgary, Alta., and Port Colborne, Ont., ADM Milling Company now has 42 percent of Canada’s total wheat milling capacity.”
American-owned mills control more than 70 percent of Canada’s wheat milling capacity.
Rogers Foods is a subsidiary of Nisshin Flour Milling Inc., one of the core companies of the Nisshin Seifun Group, the largest flour milling company in Japan.
After more than two years of study, Rogers chose to build the new mill as close to the Port of Vancouver as possible. Rossner said it decided to focus on flour distribution rather than grain transportation after the Canadian Wheat Board assured it there would be no problem delivering grain to Chilliwack.
“They gave us comfort they would be able to supply us at that location.”
Wheat board spokesperson Louise Waldman said the board is “quite pleased” with the expansion.
“This is an excellent development for Western Canada. We look forward to continuing to work with Rogers Foods and continue to provide them with high quality service, which we believe was a factor in their decision to locate in Western Canada.”
