The closure of the department in Sæby will affect 29 workers, according to Danish Crown. The Sæby facility has a slaughter capacity of 48,000 pigs a week and has 800 employees. The company expects the streamlining measure to save Danish Crown DKK 15 million ($2.74 million) a year.
“We expect to be able to offer, by far, the majority of these employees other work at the slaughterhouse in connection with natural wastage, but some may experience short periods of unemployment,” said Jesper Friis, CEO of DC Pork.
Danish Crown said closing the sow slaughter department in Sæby will improve processing capacity in Skærbæk. The company has been challenged to find a sufficient supply of slaughter-ready hogs. The sow slaughterhouse in Skærbæk slaughters 240,000 sows a year, according to Danish Crown. In exchange for the closure, the company has agreed to make improvements at the Skærbæk facility.
“The employees have been both imaginative and constructive in their efforts to find solutions, which can help reduce costs in Skærbæk,” Friis said. “I have great respect for this, and that is why we are, of course, also ready to invest in improvements at the slaughterhouse.”
