May 17, 2021

 

Pig producer to set up US$105.7 million pork plant in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland

 

 

A major pig producer in Northern Ireland is planning to develop a £75 million (US$105.7 million) automated pork processing plant in Ballymoney, The Irish News reported.

 

The project is centred on the site of the former Malton Bacon factory in Agivey, which was destroyed by fire in June 1998.

 

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council was notified of the plans after a proposal of application notice was submitted by Omagh-based accountant Seamus McCaffrey in the name of Bannside Foods.

 

The company, which was incorporated this month, is controlled by Co Armagh brothers Jim and Mark Wright of JMW Farms, along with Andrew Irwin.

 

All three are directors of Dartan Hall Holdings, a holding company for six firms principally controlled by the Wright brothers.

 

The latest set of accounts filed by the group show it recorded a turnover of £64 million (US$90.2 million) in the year ending September 30, 2019, producing an operating profit of £3.5 million (US$4.9 million).

 

According to JMW Farm's website, the family-owned operation finishes around 7,000 pigs per week. It operates pig breeding farms on both sides of the border and in Britain.

 

JMW already controls most aspects of the pig production line, including its own growing operation, feed mill, road transport mill and power plant.

 

Now, the company is seeking to develop a massive pork production facility on the former Malton Foods site in Co Antrim, which was once part of the Unigate group.

 

Jim Wright previously recalled that JMW had been supplying all its finished pigs to the Ballymoney plant up until it was destroyed in the 1998 blaze.

 

"This left us with a massive challenge in finding an alternative customer for our finished pigs that were ready for slaughter," he told the Irish Times.

 

"We had to work through what were extremely tough trading conditions for a period of two years until the market adjusted to the loss of a major processor."

 

Documents lodged with Causeway Coast and Glens council describe the proposed facility as a first of its kind food processing plant.

 

It states that the project will involve around £75 million of private investment and create between 350 and 400 jobs.

 

The proposal adds that thousands more jobs will be supported indirectly by the future factory.

 

- The Irish News