The Royal Canadian Mint is afflicted by effects of the pandemic and decided to lay off 56 employees at its facility in Winnipeg. The Winnipeg facility produces all Canadian circulation coins as well as circulation coins of various other countries.
CTV News Winnipeg published an e-mail from the Royal Canadian Mint on 11 February 2023 quoting: “The prolonged effects of the pandemic and ongoing geopolitical instability continue to disrupt global markets, limiting the volume of foreign circulation coin contracts. We believe this disruption is temporary and expect our foreign circulation business to return as global markets reopen.” According to media the employees are offered transitional support.
The difficulties concern mainly the circulation coin business as Marie Lemay, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint, stated in the earnings release on 18 November 2022: “I am encouraged by the positive results that our diversified, customer-focused organization is generating. We are ahead of plan and expect to exceed our financial goal of delivering even greater than expected returns to Canada and Canadians. As market conditions evolve, the Mint continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of its business strategy and its ability to deploy its resources to be as responsive as possible to adapt to forecasted and unforeseen shifts in market conditions and customer demand.”
However, the Third Quarter Financial Report 2022 notes that the revenue from foreign circulation coins “decreased 58% and 37% to $13.4 million and $55.1 million, respectively, for the 13 and 39 weeks ended October 1, 2022 compared to $31.6 million and $88.0 million in the same periods in 2021. Foreign circulation contract opportunities have been limited in 2022 due to the slower than expected re-opening of foreign economies following the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the on-going Russia-Ukraine conflict on the global economy. For the 13 weeks ended October 1, 2022, this resulted in a 51% decrease in volumes and changes in the mix of contracts quarter over quarter, while during the first 39 weeks of 2022, there was a decrease of 27% in volumes year over year.”
This is the official website of the RCM’s Winnipeg facility.
Here you can find the latest RCM reports.
