The U.S. economy continues to recover by leaps and bounds as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, but the same can't really be said about facility capital investment in the food & beverage sector.
According to the latest report from SalesLeads, an industrial and commercial market intelligence firm which tracks investment project activity for facilities across numerous verticals, including food & beverage, such activity remained subdued during May, and at an even slower pace than April.
SalesLeads tracked just 56 North American new food & beverage facility investments announced during May, down from 61 in April, 70 in both March and February and an average of 72.7 projects per month during 2020.
Capital investment projects SalesLeads tracks include announcements for new facilities or upgrades to existing ones.
SalesLeads
SalesLeads' May recap was broken down as follows:
- 42 projects were for processing facilities (49 in April, 55 in March)
- 16 were for distribution and industrial warehouse (17 in April, 20 in March)
- 23 were new construction projects (26 in April, 26 in March)
- 9 were expansion projects (20 in April, 18 in March)
- 26 projects entailed renovations and equipment upgrades (23 in April, 35 in March)
- 1 project was for a plant closure (0 in April, 2 in March)
- Like they did in April, Texas and Georgia led all US states in activity with six and four projects, respectively. Michigan also had four, followed by Ohio, Indiana and California with three apiece; while North Carolina, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts each had two.
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During May, SalesLeads identified five new food & beverage facility construction projects with an estimated value of at least $100 million — down from six in April (four in both March and February). The largest tracked food & beverage May project announcement is from Hilmar Cheese Company, which plans to invest $460 million to build a new processing facility in Dodge City, KS. Construction is expected to start this summer, with completion slated for 2024.
The other largest food & beverage facility construction projects SalesLeads identified in May included:
- Food processing company Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), which plans to spend $350 to build a soybean processing plant in Spiritwood, ND.
- Specialty food and beverage company Sunopta Grains and Foods, which plans to spend $200 million to build a 400,000-square-foot processing facility in Midlothian, TX.
- Hydroponic farming company Sunny Farms, which plans to invest $60 million to build a 1.2 million-square-foot processing facility in Virginia Beach, VA.
- Cheese maker Saputo Dairy USA, which plans to invest $30 million to expand and upgrade equipment at its facility in Las Cruces, NM.
- Beverage maker DrinkPAK, which plans to renovate and upgrade equipment at its 400000-square-foot processing facility in Santa Clarita, CA.
- Poultry supplier Rock Hill Foods, which plans to build a 67,000-square-foot processing, warehouse and office facility in Siloam Springs, AR.
- Meat supplier West Michigan Beef Company, which plans to invest $10 million to build a 76,000-square-foot factory in Hudsonville, MI.
- Food Bank of Lincoln, which plans to invest $5.7 million to build a warehouse and office facility in Lincoln, NE.
- Startup meat supplier Logan Premium Meats, which plans to invest $4 million to build an 11,000-square-foot processing facility in Russellville, KY.
See our recap of SalesLeads’ March Food & Beverage facility capital spending projects here.
