International pork processor Vion has announced it is to close its slaughterhouse in the German city of Zeven where 121 people work.
The board said the company would instead focus and invest in its Emstek facility because this site is best suited to provide the necessary access to the global markets.
Vion said the decision had been made because the market for pork meat has changed in past years and it is now necessary to capture global market opportunities. Vion at is loss making and has no possibility to operate profitably in the future, the company said.
The Emstek site provides an ideal bridge to regional and global markets thanks to its scale and its export licenses to most important export markets in Europe and globally. Vion will further invest to expand Emstek’s capacity to 80,000 animals per week.
The termination of the slaughter and production at the location Zeven will be discussed during an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on 19 April.
Vion is an international meat producer with 25 production locations in the Netherlands and Germany, and sales support offices in 16 countries around the globe. In 2015 Vion realised a turnover of € 4.6 billion.