The facility will be built on land covering a surface area of 85,700m2. Construction work was initiated in April, and the facility is expected to be completed next year, according to the meat business. Wipasz said the project was estimated to be worth a total of PLN250 million (€59m).
Investment to create new jobs
Wipasz announced the investment plans in its bulletin for local breeders.
“The process to recruit staff members was initiated about a year ago, because, under the plan, we will hire about 1,200 members of staff,” the company said.
The official ceremony in Międzyrzec Podlaski was attended by members of the Polish parliament and representatives of the municipal and provincial authorities, according to Wipasz.
The company obtained permission from local authorities last January to build the new facility. Construction work started last month and is scheduled to complete in January 2019. Once the facility is built, Wipasz said it aimed to obtain further permission to operate it from April 2019.
Wipasz said its existing meat production facility in Mława, in Poland’s central Mazowieckie region, which consists of a slaughterhouse, meat cutting and distribution facility and packaging lines, was capable of producing around 440 tonnes (t). The slaughterhouse has a capacity of up to 220,000 chickens per day, according to data from the meat business.
Wipasz acquired the facility in June 2010 through its purchase of local poultry industry player Polska Grupa Drobiarska. Since the takeover, Wipasz has managed to triple the facility’s output capacity. The meat business supplies its products to a number of major retail chains in the Polish market, and also sells its poultry meat products under the Nasz Kurczak (Our Chicken) brand.
In addition to the Polish market, the meat business exports its products to various countries in the EU, Asia and Africa, and also produces halal meat.
Apart from its meat industry activities, Wipasz is a major feed producer and operates five facilities located in Wadąg, Krosno, Międzyrzec Podlaski, Koło and Morąg, producing a total of 1 million t of feed per year.