August 24, 2010

Sanderson Farms seeks new site for poultry plant

Sanderson Farms is looking at either Wayne or Nash counties for the building of their second North Carolina poultry processing plant.

The company is looking for approximately 1,000 acres to facilitate the building of its proposed US$106 million poultry processing plant as well as a spray field for its treated wastewater. Sanderson Farms is also building a chicken-processing complex in Kinston, North Carolina that is set to open in January 2011.

"A decision is expected soon on the location of the second North Carolina facility as construction is scheduled to begin in the spring. It will be near Goldsboro in some sense of that word, whether or not it's five miles out of town or 20 miles, we just don't know," said Mike Cockrell, Sanderson's chief financial officer.

In March, Sanderson said the North Carolina facilities together would boost the company's processing capacity by 30% and should provide steady production growth through 2010.

The Kinston plant will process 1.2 million chickens a week for the retail grocery market. The second North Carolina plant would process the same amount of larger chickens for restaurants and other food service companies. These will help Sanderson serve markets and customers in the Northeast, Cockrell said.

According to news, the new plant is expected to employ up to 1,500 people, and the jobs are expected to pay about US$11 an hour with benefits.