Grain and oilseed milling: NAICS 3112

Overview

Ontario’s grain and oilseed milling sector is a critical element in the Ontario food supply chain as most of the production from the sector is used as ingredients in further processing. This sector accounts for over 5% of the food and beverage manufacturing sector’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ^{footnote 1[1]}. The three grain and oilseed milling subsectors are:

• flour milling and malt manufacturing
• starch and vegetable fat and oil manufacturing
• breakfast cereal manufacturing

2020 Key indicators

In 2020:

• the grain and oilseed sector was responsible for $723 million in GDP, which is a decrease of $169 million over the last five years ^{footnote 1[1]}
• there were 83 grain and oilseed milling businesses in Ontario, an increase of 7.2% over the last five years ^{footnote 2[2]}
• there were over 3,800 people employed in the grain and oilseed milling sector. Employment in this sector has decreased by 559 or 13% over the last five years ^{footnote 3[3]}
• the Grain and Oilseed Milling sector was responsible for $3.1 billion in revenue from goods manufactured, which is a 1.2% growth rate over the last five years ^{footnote 4[4]}
• there were $1.3 million in exports and $2.9 million of products imported into the province. The United States is our main export market, followed by Ireland and United Kingdom ^{footnote 5[5]}

Ontario at a glance

Ontario is home to many multi-national, medium and small mills.

In Canada, Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) Co. sources, stores, transports and processes crops such as wheat and oilseeds at a total of 42 facilities manned by more than 1,000 employees. These operations include wheat mills and bakery mix plants, which involve oilseeds crushing plants and refineries that blend fertilizer and manufacture animal feed and feed ingredients ^{footnote 18[18]}.

Ardent Mills is a premier flour-milling and ingredient company whose vision is to be the trusted partner in nurturing its consumers and communities through innovative and nutritious grain-based solutions. The company has three mills within Ontario. Mississauga is currently the largest soft wheat flour mill in Canada ^{footnote 19[19]}.

Port Royal Mills (PRM), located in Aurora, Ontario, was established in 1987. The mill offers custom blended whole grains and milled grain products. As a leading supplier of quality products to Canada’s leading bakeries, PRM has been able to provide Canadians with outstanding products from their premium ingredients ^{footnote 20[20]}.

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 2020, Ardent Mills purchased Andean Naturals, Inc.’s quinoa sourcing, cleaning and packaging operation to further invest in its specialty grain capabilities and its Annex team ^{footnote 21[21]}.

Trends

Trends in this sector include:

• consumers looking for better-for-you breakfast cereals ^{footnote 22[22]}
• consumers increasing their breakfast consumption due to spending more time at home ^{footnote 22[22]}
• North Americans wanting convenient, easy bake solutions ^{footnote 23[23]}
• the rise of gluten-free diets seeing a projected growth at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.1% for the forecast period of 2020-2025 ^{footnote 24[24]}