Danish Crown will close two pork plants

The slaughter plant in the city of Skive and the deboning unit in Hurup will both be shut down at the end of June 2008. Altogether, the plants have about 450 employees.

The company says it is adjusting operations as this relates to a lower volume of animals available for slaughter. For some time, the Danish Crown capacity has been up to 400,000 slaughter pigs per week as two plant fires last year made the company's slaughter volume fall behind.

Normal conditions
Jens Haven Christiansen, division director at Danish Crown, said that normal conditions have since returned, which means the company was forced to adjust capacity to 350,000 slaughter pigs per week.

"If the present development in Danish pig production continues, further adjustments may be required within the next year," Christiansen suggested.

"If so, we may be forced to close down the slaughterhouse in Vojens in line with completion of a top modern slaughterhouse in Blans - either at the end of 2008 or at the beginning of 2009. The completion of Blans will result in increased capacity," Christiansen said.

The Skive plant was one of the Danish Crown facilities that was struck by fire last year. The other fire occurred in Blans.

Related website:
• Danish Crown 

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