by KIRSTEN LEATHERDALE of the Weyburn Review
A study released by Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food ranks Weyburn as the second-most optimum location for a pasta plant out of six cities in Saskatchewan and North Dakota.
The study, conducted by Saskatchewan-based Trimension Training and Consulting Group, showed that from an economic standpoint Regina would be the best location for a processing and packaging operation, followed by Weyburn. Other cities included in the study were Estevan, Swift Current, Portal, N.D. and Crosby, N.D.
Sask Ag and Food commissioned the study because of several groups looking to build a pasta plant in Saskatchewan, including Prairie Pasta Producers, whose members include producers in southern Saskatchewan as well as North Dakota, and Pasta D'Aurum of Swift Current.
The analysis of flour costs and outbound transportation costs were the overriding economic factors in the study.
"One of the most critical costs in terms of location is how much it's going to cost to ship the product out, since the main market would be outside of the production area," explained Suzy Miller of Sask Ag and Food.
"Weyburn is close to Highway 1 in terms of truck traffic and close to Regina in terms of intermodal distribution," she said.
A large part of Weyburn's advantage is the close proximity to Regina.
"Since Saskatchewan is a net importer of goods, a lot of full trucks get emptied in Regina and need to be filled up when they go back out. Trucks going out of Regina can take advantage of the back haul rates," said Miller.
The study also determined the advantages of each of the six cities relative to location and infrastructure.
Weyburn ranked most favourable in the section on infrastructure.
"Certainly our existing infrastructure is an advantage - not just the warehouse facility or distillery site, but also the rail siding, access to major highways, access to a power supply, a large natural gas line, and water and sewer already out there. All those amenities already exist," said city commissioner Bob Smith, who was pleased with the results of the study.
But the best infrastructure advantage Weyburn has are the large terminals and the amount of grain those terminals turn over. The study indicates its an important factor because a durum mill needs consistency and high quality, and large mills that can do blending provide that quality raw material.
Although Weyburn ranked second last when it came to durum percentage of cereal grain production, amount of durum production, yield, and quality, Smith doesn't see that as a problem.
"We have to take that in context. The capacity of the pasta plant would be 136,000 metric tonnes in a 30-mile radius. We grow 300,000 to 400,000 metric tonnes in a 30-mile radius. We're producing three to four times the durum the facility could utilize. Even if it was to double it's capacity, we'd still have enough," said Smith.
Smith thinks the key to improving Weyburn's standing lies in building an intermodal facility, where semis could be loaded onto flatbed trains. In this way Regina is saving some freight costs.
But Weyburn's good standing is based on flour and freight costs as of the end of March. As the cash price for durum varies, the flour cost differences could vary, possibly changing the relative order of the locations.
Prairie Pasta Producers chairman David Schnell said his group has seen the Trimension study, and will take it into consideration before making their final decision on the location of their pasta plant. He said that decision will be finalized sometime in late June.
Schnell and his colleagues will leave for Ottawa tomorrow to discuss impediments to value-added processing in Western Canada with the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
The biggest issue is the Canadian Wheat Board pricing policies which provide one price to farmers and another (usually higher) price to a durum mill at the same location.
Representatives from the CWB would not confirm rumours that a pricing policy more favourable to new generation co-operatives like Prairie Pasta may soon be announced.
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