Finland’s Atria tackling operating cost base
In a bid to gain tighter control of costs, the Finnish meat producer and exporter has engaged in talks with unions, which are expected to lead to both redundancies and changes in working hours at its biggest plants.
The company has already agreed a cost-reduction deal with unions at its meat processing facility in Nurmo, western Finland. Under the agreement, Atria has stopped short of redundancies and will instead introduce a four-day work week at the pig slaughtering and meat production plant.
The new regime will affect 120 employees, including those on fixed-term work contracts, which will not be extended while the four-day work week remains in force. "The measures are intended to strengthen pig slaughtering at the Nurmo production plant, while adjusting production to deal with the current market situation," said Markku Hirvijärvi, a senior vice-president for production, R&D and quality at Atria.
The loss of markets in Russia has caused Atria to review its overall cost base at primary meat plants, as well as meat products, poultry and convenience food plants across the group, including its largest factories in Forssa, Kuopio, Kauhajoki, Sahalahti and Jyväskylä.
The cost streamlining action by Atria comes amid a warning by the Finnish farmers and forestry union, the MTK (Maa- ja metsätaloustuottajain Keskusliitto), that tough years lie ahead for Finland’s pig industry.
The warning is backed by a study conducted by MTK into the long-term investment plans of its 150,000 members. Based on this study, the MTK estimated that the number of pig farms in Finland would decline by 50% from today’s level by 2020.
The MTK’s Pig Industry 2015-2020 study (in Finnish - Sikan Teollisuus Tutkimus) forecasts that, of the 1,500 pig farms currently operating, around 750 will remain by 2020.
"Costs are increasing while product prices are static. This will cause changes in the industry. The trend will see fewer, but larger industrial-scale pig farms. Even so, we do not expect production to jump significantly," Jukka Rantala, MTK’s livestock specialist told GlobalMeatNews.
