Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. is Canada's largest meat processor, but the company is committed to being a leading competitor in the North American plant-based protein space, and management is now projecting that the business segment, which was launched through two acquisitions in 2017, will achieve profitability in 2023 or 2024. The Plant Protein Group business unit, which consists of the Lightlife, Field Roast and Chao brands, generated C$211 million ($168 million) in sales in fiscal 2020, driven by pandemic-fueled purchasing patterns, and 20% higher than fiscal 2019 sales. Management had expected an additional 30% sales growth in fiscal 2021 but backed off that guidance with the release of its second-quarter earnings on Aug. 5. For the first six months of fiscal 2021, ended June 30, Plant Protein Group sales totaled C$90.7 million ($72.4 million), a decline from the first six months of fiscal 2020 when sales were C$107 million ($85.6 million). Sales during the second quarter fell 21% to C$48 million ($38 million).
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