Preliminary work on the $20 million project in Nipawin is set to start in spring once service agreements are finalized with CP
A new grain handling company says it hopes to be buying grain from farmers in northeastern Saskatchewan before the end of the year.
Hanfood Group Holding Corp. announced plans last week to build a new grain handling facility and agricultural food park in Nipawin, Sask.
The proposed facility will include 46,000 tonnes of steel storage and a 134 car, loop-track siding that connects to lines owned by Canadian Pacific Railway.
The facility is expected to cost $20 million.
Timelines for construction were not specified, but partners involved in the project say preliminary site work is likely to begin in the next few months, once service agreements with CP have been finalized.
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The company hopes to buy new crop grain this fall, although construction of its Nipawin facility is unlikely to be completed by then.
“We’re probably going to be looking at fast tracking certain parts of the facility (to accommodate grain deliveries this fall) … but it will not be 100 percent complete when we start to receive grain,” said Kevin Dahl, a Nipawin resident and partner in the project.
Hanfood president Andy Hu said the facility will buy grain and oilseed to sell domestically and exported to China, the United States and Europe.
Hu, an entrepreneur, investor and property manager, has business connections in Canada and China.
He is also president of MaxCrop Farm Canada, a farming, property management and land holding company in Regina.
According to the company’s website, it owns and leases more than 80,000 acres of farmland in Saskatchewan.
Dahl said the Nipawin project is the first step in a larger plan to establish Hanfood as a recognized grain handling and food processing company with trading connections throughout the world.
He said the company has long-term plans to establish additional grain handling facilities in other Saskatchewan communities, although he would not provide details.
Nipawin mayor David Trann said the announcement of a new terminal and food park is good news for the town and neighbouring municipalities.
“The creation of jobs during construction and post construction, local business procurement opportunities and spin off … in the tourism sector is good for our community and the region,” Trann said.
Hu said Hanfood’s proposed facility will be the only bulk handling facility in the Nipawin area located on CP tracks.
Cargill has a concrete elevator south of Nipawin on track owned by Canadian National Railway, as is Richardson’s concrete elevator 40 kilometres away at Carrot River, Sask..
The only other facilities in the Nipawin area include a Bunge facility that handles canola and a producer-owned loading facility at Choiceland, Sask., owned by Torch River Railway.
