Moy Park belt-tightening but expansion to go ahead

The Craigavon food processing company Moy Park has announced a "collective belttightening exercise" including a reduction in overtime owing to what it describes as seasonal factors and the strength of sterling.

A spokesman said that there was no question of any threat to the company's planned £31.5 million sterling investment programme, which was announced a year ago.

That includes an £11 million factory in Dungannon, and another £20 million to be spent in re-equipping the plants in Craigavon, Moira, and Coolhill, also in Dungannon.

The spokesman said that turkeys apart, the poultry business goes through a lean time at Christmas. "This year has been particularly tough," he said. "Sales of all meats are down, and exports have suffered because of the strong pound."

Moy Park, which since May 1996 has been owned by the Chicago-based company OSI Industries, employs around 2,900 people.

It has a factory in Southport, Lancashire, employing 300 people, with another 400 employed at a plant in northern France, in a joint venture with France's second-biggest poultry processing company, Bourgoin.

The company is building an £11 million, 5,000 sq ft chicken-cutting factory at Granville, near Dungannon, which is expected to result in the creation of 350 new jobs over the next few years.

The money is part of a £31.5 million investment which is also being used to reorganise production at the company's other plants at Craigavon, Moira, and Coolhill, also near Dungannon. At Craigavon £11.4 million is being spent on new processing, freezing and chilling equipment, and the introduction of additional products.

In Moira, £1.5 million is to be spent on a refurbishment programme, while at Coolhill, the company is spending £2.2 million on new automated equipment.

The entire investment, which is being supported by a grant of just over £8 million from the IDB, is also good news for suppliers of Moy Park, especially in areas such as animal feeds, packaging, and transport.

The investment will result in additional capacity and increased sales to food retailers in Britain and mainland Europe.