Vion announces investment in Bavaria
The announcement comes not long after chief executive Michiel Herkemij announced Vion’s new strategy.
Expansion plans are on the cards at its German operations at Waldkraiburg, Landshut and Vilshofen. However, as a result of the investments made at these sites, the firm said it was likely its sites at Straubing and Pfarrkirchen would close.
Around half of the investment – understood to be between €100m-€500m – is to go towards expanding its slaughter and cutting plant in Landshut, with capacity to almost double to 21,000 pigs per week. The project is due for completion in mid-2015.
Its pork slaughterhouse in Vilshofen will benefit from the installation of new state-of-the-art equipment, in a bid to improve processing efficiencies.
Meanwhile investment is also being made at its Waldkraiburg plant, which will see it become the largest beef plant within Vion, with capacity increasing from 3,000 to 4,500 cattle per week.
In addition to the envisaged closure of its Straubing and Pfarrkirchen operations, Vion said it also had plans to close its beef processing plant at Leutkirch, with cattle to be redirected to its Buchloe and Crailsheim operations.
Last month GlobalMeatNews reported that closures had not been ruled out after Herkemij said the group’s focus going forward would be on both cost reduction and investment.
