The new owner of the flax straw processing plant near Canora, Sask.,
says the facility will reopen as soon as he gets the keys.
Ken Naber of Melfort, Sask., is finalizing his purchase from Cargill
Ltd. and the Saskatchewan government. Cargill owned 50 percent of
Durafibre Inc. and the province owned 47 percent. The remaining three
percent remains owned by a group of local farmer investors, Sask-Can
Fibre Inc.
Naber said he has no plans to move the plant.
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That pleased local investors who were also bidding for it.
“We’re disappointed that we didn’t get it,” said Syl Hrynkiw, who
headed the group. “But our main objective was that we were going to
save the plant.”
Earlier this year, Cargill decided to leave the fibre business. The
province was unwilling to make a larger investment.
The plant closed in March and the owners began looking for a buyer.
The local group raised enough money to buy the facility, but not enough
to operate it. However, Naber, his daughter and son-in-law had the
money.
Last week Naber said he had been looking at flax straw processing for
the last several years.
“I’ve already hired five people,” he said Oct. 17. “We’re going to run
it 40 hours a week, one shift. I think five people can handle that.”
The plant had employed 30 people until it closed this summer.
Naber said one shift would be enough to fill his markets.
He will concentrate on two products. One of them, DF 400, is a fibre
product used in the American building market.
The other is Flaxsorb, horse bedding made from shive, or the woody core
of the straw.
Previously, Durafibre produced a product similar to fibreglass, which
was used to make car door panels. Naber said it isn’t profitable enough
to pursue.
“The people that want to buy it won’t pay enough money to cover the
cost of production,” he said. “The challenge is to get the price up so
you can make a profit.”
The entire venture is a challenge.
“There’s been no flax plant that has been established in North America
that has operated successfully,” Naber said. “We’re very much confident
that we can.”
Saskatchewan agriculture minister Clay Serby said the plant has great
potential but requires “a bit more nurturing.”
Serby said the province and Cargill have each spent more than $5
million over the past five years trying to make it successful. Total
investment has been estimated at $15 million.
Neither Serby nor Naber would release the sale price.
A Cargill spokesperson declined to comment directly on the sale, saying
the province would speak for both parties.
Farmers in the Canora area spearheaded the creation of Durafibre, which
incorporated in 1994.
The province bought shares in 1996 and production began in 1999.
The plant originally produced fibre for the specialty paper industry.
