The new owners of Ranchers’ Beef say they will weigh their options before reopening the meat processing company.
Sunterra Beef bought the plant in Balzac, Alta., in December for an undisclosed amount, said Dave Price of Acme, Alta. His family, which owns Sunterra Meats, is a principal shareholder in the new company.
Ranchers Beef opened in July 2006 with ambitious plans to cultivate new markets by providing different beef products, but it said low profitability and difficult regulations held it back and the plant went into receivership last August.
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“The experience was obvious under the current attitude with respect to regulations and access to differentiated international markets, (and) until that changes there isn’t much chance of that facility or one like it being successful,” Price said.
The plant produced products with full traceback, organic meat and beef acceptable to the European Union.
“You have to be able to connect with the person who is willing to pay at the other end, and if there are too many impediments in between, then neither end is able to succeed and both are frustrated with the process,” he said.
The company also wanted to be able to test for BSE for the Japanese market, but federal criteria makes it all but impossible to do private testing.
Sunterra Meats, which handles lamb and pork, has done considerable business with the Japanese. Clients there told the company they wanted imported beef tested because Japan’s domestic product is tested.
“It will take some adjustments before an initiative like that has much chance of success,” Price said.
The court ordered the legal firm Alger and Associates in Calgary to handle the sale, which included a processing plant, fabrication plant and an administration building on 140 acres on the outskirts of Calgary. It was valued at $75 million but no details on the selling price were revealed.
The plant was certified by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the European Union and the Certified Organic Association.
It opened just as the United States began accepting cattle younger than 30 months after a four year embargo due to BSE.
During the four year trade suspension, numerous Canadian-owned plants were proposed but most did not get beyond the blueprint stage. Ultimately, Canada expanded its slaughter capacity to 95,000 head per week in federally inspected plants but last year capacity averaged around 66 percent, according to Canfax.
