Regina-based Saskcan Pulse Trading is consolidating its operations at three facilities and will close a leased facility at the end of the month.
The company is also looking to expand into another crop.
President Murad Al-Katib said the company will invest $600,000 in new equipment at the pulse processing plants it owns in Regina, Grand Coulee and Rosetown. As a result, Saskcan will hire 10 employees in Regina and Rosetown.
However, 18 people who worked at the rented former Crown Ag International building in Regina’s industrial area will be laid off once that facility is closed. The employees will have the option of pursuing the new positions.
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Al-Katib said Saskcan leased the space in Regina last July for a three-year term, but that agreement included the ability to terminate the lease with two months notice.
“We made a decision that we actually had extra capacity in the splitting plant and in Rosetown,” he said. “Our bread and butter is splitting.”
The Crown Ag plant offered colour sorting capability and 160,000 sq. feet of space, Al-Katib said.
“No pulse operation in North America requires that type of space,” he added.
He said the new equipment, including an entire line in Rosetown, will lower per tonne processing costs and make the company more competitive. It will be in place in time for the new crop in August.
Saskcan recently introduced a split pea program and is just completing a large United Nations contract for yellow peas heading to Africa.
Peas, including chickpeas, will become a bigger focus for the company, Al-Katib said.
Eighty-five percent of the company’s capacity is available for pea splitting between April and July, which gives it an opportunity to do business with a larger group of growers.
When Saskcan opened, red lentils accounted for 85 percent of its business, although producers prefer to grow green lentils.
“We are still producing only a fraction (of split red lentils) as a company with such a large splitting capacity,” Al-Katib said.
“We don’t have a lack of markets, I can tell you that. The pea supply is very significant and we could not ignore that market.”
