Hundreds of jobs are at risk at a billion pound-turnover pig farming and pork products business.
Pilgrim鈥檚 海角视频 plans to close its meat factories in Coalville, north west Leicestershire, and Bury St Edmonds, in Suffolk, under cost-cutting plans. A site in Ashton-under-Lyne near Manchester could be cut to four days operating a week.
It is understood that more than 300 workers at the Mantle Road site in Coalville face losing their jobs, while hundreds more could be made redundant at the Suffolk plant. Management said the closures were 鈥渆ssential鈥 after the pork market was hit by a combination of lockdowns, soaring production costs and plummeting prices.
The 2021 accounts for parent company Pilgrim鈥檚 Pride Ltd showed revenues down from 拢1.34 billion to 拢1.05 billion and pre-tax losses of almost 拢21 million compared to a pre-tax profit of 拢6.6 million a year before.
The plans could see production at Coalville move to Pilgrim鈥檚 plants in Corsham, Wiltshire, or King鈥檚 Lynn in Norfolk. Consultations are getting under way and staff are being offered options including transferring to other sites.
Rachel Baldwin, vice president of HR for Pilgrim鈥檚 海角视频, said: 鈥淭he decision to propose the closure of our Coalville and Bury St Edmunds sites and put a number of roles at risk at Ashton has not been taken lightly, but is unfortunately essential to help our business recover and secure a sustainable future for all of our team members across the 海角视频.
鈥淐learly, this announcement will have major implications, not just for our site, but the entire local community, and we will do everything we can to minimise the impact of these proposals, working closely with local authorities and agencies to support our team members through what we know will be an extremely difficult period.鈥
Earlier this month Pligrim鈥檚 海角视频 president Ivan Siqueira, who joined the business in January, said: 鈥淢arket conditions in 2021 and the first half of 2022 were the most severe the sector has known, and conditions remain challenging.
鈥淚n the face of these challenges, our commitment to backing British farmers and delivering the highest quality and most innovative food to our customers has been unwavering.
鈥淭o enable us to deliver, we have evolved, diversified and invested in becoming the best and most sustainable food business in the 海角视频 and will continue to identify ways to operate even more efficiently and effectively.鈥
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