Colbex Loan Weighing- Down Quebec Cattle Farmers

Jul 16, 2012

Quebec Dairy and Beef Farmers will pay Levy on Cull Cattle into 2014

Quebec dairy and beef cattle farmers will continue to pay off the Colbex loan into 2014 for the producer-owned Levinoff-Colbex beef plant at St-Cyrille-de-Wendover that went into receivership May 31, 2012 and closed its doors shortly after. The company opened in the late 1970s and in 1998 it merged with a Montreal processor Levinoff.

Farmers who are shipping cattle to slaughter will have received their invoices adding an ongoing $53.86 per head for cull cattle. The levy will continue until the Federation des producteurs de bovins du Quebec (FPBQ) pays off a $32 million dollar loan that they signed in order to recapitalize and upgrade the plant.

The levy that cattle farmers will be dolling out will go towards paying the plant’s creditors through the receivership process. As of June 1 the FPBQ still owes $20 million from the $32 million loan. The FPBQ predicts that the loan will be paid in full by 2014, but haven’t set an exact date as the debt is dependent on cull cattle sales in Quebec.

The plant had the capacity to slaughter almost 5,000 head per week and had employed over 200 workers. The opportunity to buy the facility is now open; bids will be accepted to the FPBQ Montreal office until July 25.

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