A new report by industrial and commercial market intelligence firm SalesLeads found the number of planned North American food and beverage industry projects decreased in June, indicating May's modest increase may have been an aberration amid subdued capital spending as a result of COVID-19 business impacts.
SalesLeads’ monthly report tracking such projects showed 59 projects during the month of June, down from 67 in May and 64 in April, and far below marks of 70 in March, 79 in February and 89 in January before the pandemic hit North America in earnest.
The firm’s June recap is broken down as follows:
- 43 projects were for processing facilities (39 in May, 42 in April, 43 in March, 60 in February)
- 20 were for distribution centers or warehouses (20 in May, 24 in April, 26 in March, 22 in Feb.)
- 17 were new construction projects (19 in May, 15 in April, 18 in March, 30 in Feb.)
- 19 were expansion projects (17 in May, 16 in April, 17 in March, 17 in Feb.)
- 27 projects entailed renovations and equipment upgrades (32 in May, 34 in April, 27 in March, 34 in Feb.)
- 1 was a plant closure (1 each in May and April, 4 in March, 6 in Feb.)
- As it did in May, Texas led all states in the number of planned June food & bev. manufacturing projects, with six. The trio of South Carolina, North Carolina and Wisconsin each had four, followed by the foursome of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Georgia at three apiece and then Virginia and Pennsylvania each with two.
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During June, SalesLeads identified two new food & beverage facility construction projects with an estimated value of at least $100 million. May had one such project, and April's largest project was valued at only $60 million.
The largest June project comes from Associated Wholesale Grocers, which plans to invest $300 million to construct a 918,000-square-foot distribution center in Hernando, MS.
The other largest food & bev. construction projects SalesLeads identified in June included:
- Americold Logistics, which plans to build a 250,000-square-foot cold storage facility in Plainville, CT.
- Beverage distributor Republic National Distributing Company, which is considering constructing a 500,000-square-foot office and distribution center in Louisville, KY.
- Coffee company Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA, which plans to build a 356,000-square-foot distribution center in Suffolk, VA.
- Specialty food products maker General Advanced Foods, which plans to invest $87 million to renovate and upgrade equipment at its processing facility in Lubbock, TX.
- Meat processing company Monogram Foods, which plans to build a 135,000-square-foot processing facility in Haverhill, MA.
- Startup beverage packing provider Prime Beverage Group, which plans to invest $68 million to renovate and upgrade equipment of a 300,000-square-foot warehouse and processing facility in Kannapolis, NC.
- Northwest Ordinance Distilling, which plans to invest $40 million to expand, renovate and upgrade equipment on its production facility in New Albany, NY.
- Meat processing company Swift Pork Company, which plans to invest $30 million to construct a 200,000-square-foot refrigerated warehoused in Worthington, MN.
- Specialty bakery products maker Baker Cerlia, which plans to invest $29 million to construct a 150,000-square-foot processing facility in Whitehall, OH.
