Eiderdown plant on track in Sanikiluaq
Scheduled to open by April, new processing plant could triple original revenue estimate
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Published Monday, February 9, 2015
SANIKILUAQ
The outlook for down is up in Sanikiluaq, as the hamlet remains on track to reopen its eiderdown plant next month as planned, with productivity projections exceeding initial expectations.
With eiderdown duvets fetching $6,000 per kilogram of down used, the future looks bright in Sanikiluaq, where the hamlet's defunct eiderdown plant is set to reopen next month. Eider down comes from female, fully grown, live eider ducks who return to the ocean after laying four to five eggs. - photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons |
"We thought we were going to be able to do a partial year," said senior administrative officer Daryl Dibblee, noting this was before a very productive summer for down gatherers, who knew the hamlet was looking at reopening the plant.
"With the amount we have and the interest we have in our products, we're going to be able to go year-round and our revenues look like they may be about triple what we thought. It's exciting."
The excitement reflects the fact the 10 to 12 people the hamlet was expecting to employ seasonally may be employed full-time year-round.
"We're trying to create some economic activity here," Dibblee said. "They always talk about poverty reduction. As far as I'm concerned, the best poverty reduction is to create some employment. If we can do that, that's significant."
Most of the physical requirements of the plant are in place to get it up and running.
"We've got the equipment in," he said. "We had to get new sterilization equipment, we've got that. We came across a bit of asbestos, we had the group come in and do the plan, and we're just waiting for the contractors. It's going to take a couple of days for them to do that. Obviously, we're not going to put people in there until that's completed. But we hope to have that done in the next couple of weeks."
The hamlet is waiting to hear back from a trainer it hopes to fly up by early March, which should enable workers to start by late March or early April if all goes to plan, only slightly delayed from the original timeline of March.
It will be the first time Sanikiluaq's eiderdown plant has produced down and down products since 2005, when the government ended the plant's funding.
A feasibility study showed the plant can be profitable without funding, beyond paying for the study and start-up costs. That's because eiderdown fetches a premium on the market, and that's an understatement.
"The total worldwide annual harvest of eiderdown could be carried by one small truck," according to the website eiderdown.com. To make a nest, an eider duck "sheds 17 grams of grey, very light down and lays four to five big eggs. After its ducklings have hatched, all eiders return back to the ocean. The down left behind, comes only from female, fully grown, live birds. This makes it always mature and uniform."
Duvets available on the site average $6,000 per kilogram of down used. A king-sized duvet using eiderdown from Iceland is valued at $10,000.
Sanikiluaq's stocks were first expected to generate between $140,000 and $200,000 in down products per year, Dibblee said, with the plant making a profit by year two.
Those numbers could be much higher with the current stock waiting to be processed, he said.
The project is supported by the territorial and federal governments. The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency helped pay for the feasibility study, and all three levels of government are pitching in to buy equipment and train staff.
