Food and beverage manufacturing: NAICS 311 and 312

Overview

Ontario’s food and beverage sector accounts for over 30% of the overall agri-food sector’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ^{footnote 1[1]} (farm, wholesale and retail). Major subsectors include grain and oilseed, sugar and confectionary, fruit and vegetable, dairy product, meat product, bakeries and tortilla, snack food, seasoning and dressing, soft drink and ice, breweries, wineries and cannabis.

2020 Key indicators

In 2020:

• the food and beverage sector was responsible for $14.03 billion in GDP, which is an increase of $1.03 billion over the last five years ^{footnote 1[1]}
• there were 4,527 food and beverage businesses in Ontario, an increase of 12.2% over the last 5 years ^{footnote 2[2]}
• there were over 104,000 people employed in the food and beverage sector. Employment in this sector has increased by 7,373 or 1.5% over the last five years ^{footnote 3[3]}
• the food and beverage sector was responsible for $48.2 billion in revenue from goods manufactured, which is a 20.6% growth rate over the last five years ^{footnote 4[4]}
• there were $13.1 billion in exports and $21.5 billion of products imported into the province. The United States is our main export market, followed by China and Japan ^{footnote 5[5]}

Ontario at a glance

Ontario is home to many processors, including multinational companies and small and medium enterprises.

Agropur Cooperative is a North American industry leader founded in 1938. As the largest dairy-processing cooperative in North America, Agropur is made up of over 8,800 employees who contribute to the processing of more than 6.2 billion litres of milk annually. In addition, Agropur boasts an impressive roster of respected brands and products such as Iögo, Natrel, OKA and Sealest ^{footnote 6[6]}.

Cargill Limited is one of Canada’s largest merchandisers and processors. Their interests include the processing of beef, poultry and oilseed and the manufacturing of livestock feed. They are also involved in crop input product retailing, as well as grain handling, milling, salt distribution and merchandising ^{footnote 7[7]}.

FGF Brands recently became the largest bakery group after the recent acquisition of Weston Foods. With facilities across North America, FGF serves thousands of products daily to retail and foodservice clients globally ^{footnote 8[8]}.

Parrish and Heimbecker (P&H Milling Group) is the leading Canadian manufacturer of quality flour products. P&H built the largest flour mill in Hamilton, Ontario. The mills portfolio includes full compliments of flours that are specially blended for products such as bread, cookies, pastries, and more ^{footnote 9[9]}.

Highlights and investment activities

In 2017, the Province of Ontario invested $5 million through the Jobs and Prosperity Fund (JPF) to help P&H Milling Group complete its construction of its new state-of-the-art $50 million flour mill in Hamilton ^{footnote 10[10]}.

In October of 2021, FGF Brands acquired the Weston Foods fresh and frozen bakery businesses of George Weston Ltd. for $1.2 billion ^{footnote 11[11]}.

Maple Leaf Foods is anticipating finished construction of its new 640,000 ft² facility in London, Ontario during Q3 of 2022. The facility is set to be a world class value poultry processing plant, with leading edge processes and technology ^{footnote 12[12]}.

Trends

In 2020:

• 22% of Ontario businesses with employees, were exporting food and beverage products ^{footnote 13[13]}
• over 25% of Ontario’s agri-food trade is accounted for by grain and value-added grain products (breads, pastas, crackers) ^{footnote 14[14]}
• Ontario accounted for 42% of Canada’s bakeries ^{footnote 15[15]}

Consumers are increasingly searching for products which boost their nutritional intake ^{footnote 16[16]}. Processors can improve rapport with consumers by using sustainable packaging materials and sustainably sourcing their ingredients ^{footnote 17[17]}.