Poland's QFG begins work on €40m slaughterhouse
The investment is expected to create about 600 new jobs, and it is estimated to be worth some PLN170 million (€40m).
Increased capacity
The slaughterhouse will have a capacity of up to 270,000 head per 24 hours, according to the company’s president Jarosław Krzyżanowski. The project is part of the company’s expansion plans under which QFG aims to invest about PLN400m (€94.1m) by the end of 2022. The investments are to allow the firm to expand and upgrade its output capacity, and create 1,200 new jobs.
“We will use the most advanced slaughtering and cutting technologies at the facility,” Krzyżanowski said in a statement.
The new facility, fitted with a total surface of some 16,000sq m, will be located in the Radom subzone of the Tarnobrzeg special economic zone (TSSE).
Tax cuts for investment
Constructing its new slaughterhouse in the zone will provide QFG with preferential tax treatment for the project until at least 2026, when Poland’s special economic zones are scheduled to cease operating. However, over the past months, senior government officials have said that Poland will most likely extend the zones’ operation beyond this date to attract further manufacturing investments and maintain the competitiveness of the Polish economy.
QFG aims to concentrate its production assets within a 100km range from Pionki, where the company operates a meat processing plant. The firm’s product range consists of various processed meat products, made using poultry, pork and beef. These include strips, steaks, burgers, wings, pockets, wrapped medallions and many others. QFG said its customer base comprises retail re-sellers, the hotel, restaurant and café segment, and retail customers.
The Radom-based firm exports as much as 80% of its output, mostly to various countries in Europe. These include the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria, according to data released by QFG. The rest of the company’s production is destined for the Polish market.
In 2016, US private equity firm Highlander Partners acquired a 60% stake in QFG. The remaining 40% of the shares in the company are held by its founders. The Dallas-based firm said it had invested in North America and Central Europe, with a focus on the US and Polish markets.
Founded in 2000 by the Krzyżanowski family, QFG also owns a meat cutting facility in Białobrzegi, in central Poland. The meat industry player said its facilities are BRC-, IFS- and HACCP-certified.
