April 24, 2008

Danish Crown to close pork facilities

The pork division at Danish Crown decided on Monday to propose closing down the slaughterhouse in Skive and the deboning unit in Hurup at the end of June 2008.

The reason for the decision is the need for adjustment of capacity to a lower number of slaughtering, as the two large fires in 2007 have reduced slaughter.

"The result of the fires meant that slaughterings at Danish Crown had fallen behind and through an increased efficiency and smaller expansions on a number of plants, the capacity has been 400,000 slaughter pigs per week.

Normal conditions are back and this means that we are forced to adjust capacity to 350,000 slaughter pigs per week," said Jens Haven Christiansen, division director at Danish Crown.
 
The adjustment of the capacity appears together with the forecast of a decrease in Danish pig slaughter production. This means that there is a long-term intention of adjustments at the Danish Crown Group.

If the present development in Danish pig production continues, further adjustments may be required within the next year, which would force the closure of the slaughterhouse in Vojens, said Christiansen.

Christiansen added that the construction of a modern slaughterhouse in Blans would either complete at the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009, which would result in increased capacity.