The Danish pork producer, Tican, is changing its processing operations to improve its competitiveness in the English market, including moving some procedures to plants in the UK in October this year.
Announcing the changes, Tican said it has been experiencing “increasing difficulties” in producing value-added bacon products at competitive prices for the English Market and had therefore been considering alternative solutions for quite some time.
Following its acquisition by the Germany-based Tönnies Group in February this year, Tican said it is now possible to make changes to its setup in a way that will promote future competitiveness.
The planned changes mean that 80 employees working in its pork legs department in Thisted, Denmark, and its bacon department in Ansager, Denmark, will lose their jobs, with the prospect that both processes will end up being carried out in Tönnies locations in the UK.
The initial plan is to move the deboning of legs to Germany, with the long-term step involving a transfer to the UK. The production of bacon operations, meanwhile, is set to be transferred to existing Tönnies facilities in the UK, as of October 1.
“It is obviously regrettable that this decision will, in the short term, lead to the loss of jobs in Denmark,” said Tican CEO Ove Thejls. “We keep working hard with plans for growth and investments in other areas, however, which in time is expected to lead to a positive development in employment.”