About The Sector
Food and Beverage Processing
Food and beverage manufacturing is the largest manufacturing sector in Manitoba, accounting for 30 percent of Manitoba's total manufacturing sales in 2022. Total food and beverage manufacturing sales in 2022 were $7.3 billion, 16.5 percent higher than the previous year. The sector directly employed 14,965 Manitobans in 2021 and is the largest manufacturing employer in the province.
Productive farmland suitable for the production of various crops and animals, access to state of the art research facilities and world-class transportation infrastructure, available highly skilled labour, and a business-friendly environment make Manitoba a unique place to invest in food and beverage processing. Manitoba has a vibrant food processing sector with 792 food processing establishments. Manitoba's three largest food processing industries are meat product manufacturing, grain and oilseed milling and dairy product manufactuing.
Major food processors in Manitoba include:
- Meat products (Maple Leaf Foods, Hylife Foods, True North Foods, Exceldor Cooperative, and Sunrise Farms)
- Grains and Oilseeds (Bunge Canada, Viterra, Richardson Milling, Roquette and Emerson Milling Inc.)
- Potato (McCain Foods and Simplot Canada Ltd.)
- Dairy Products (Lucerne Foods, Groupe Lactalis, Dairyworld Foods, and MDI Holdings Corp.)
Exports for processed food and beverage products stood at $4.1 billion in 2022, an increase of 7.4 percent over the previous year. Manitoba food and beverage exports reached 63 countries in 2022, with the top four markets in 2022 being United States, Japan, Mexico and China.
Visit the Markets and Statistics section to view food and value added agriculture reports and statistics.
