ST. LOUIS — Post Holdings Inc. plans to shut its Post Consumer Brands cereal production plants in Cobourg, Ont., and Sparks, Nev., by the end of this year.

St. Louis-based Post said it’s closing the two manufacturing facilities because of a “need to reduce capacity” in its cereal production network. Plans call for the production capabilities of the Cobourg and Sparks plants to be transferred to other Post Consumer Brands manufacturing sites.  

“The ready-to-eat cereal category continues to decline,” said Nicolas Catoggio, president and chief executive officer of Post Consumer Brands. “To respond to this, we are reducing excess manufacturing capacity and optimizing our North American plant network to better utilize our production capacity.”

Post Consumer Brands has operated the Cobourg plant since its $1.8 billion acquisition of Weetabix Ltd. from Shanghai-based Bright Food Group in July 2017. Post also added the Sparks facility via acquisition, through its $85 million purchase of the TreeHouse Foods ready-to-eat cereal business in June 2021.

The two plants are slated to cease operations by the end of December, according to Post. Combined, the facilities have about 300 employees, whom the company said have been notified of the upcoming closings. With the transfer of production capabilities to other sites and the plant closures, Post said it expects to realize annual cost savings of $21 million to $23 million starting in fiscal 2026.

For its most recent reporting period, Post said North American ready-to-eat cereal volume fell 2.3%, mainly due to category declines, in the fiscal 2025 first quarter ended Feb. 6. Post also cited category declines for a 1.2% sales decrease in its Weetabix business, primarily UK ready-to-eat cereal.