Moy Park Northern Ireland's 'most prolific manufacturer'

Poultry processor Moy Park, Northern Ireland's biggest food business, has been named at the top of the region's 100 most prolific manufacturers in a major survey.

Insider magazine listed Moy Park, based at Craigavon in county Armagh, at the top for the third consecutive year in its Manufacturing 100 survey.

The magazine said the food giant had posted sales of £1.41bn for the year to 31 December 2015. The company was bought by JBS of Brazil during the period for £946 million.

Overall, 15 agri-food businesses in Northern Ireland are listed by the magazine in its Top 100. They include Belfast-based grain merchant W&R Barnett in the top three. W&R Barnett, a grain merchant founded in 1896, is also the holding company for a number of commodity trading, storage, agribusiness and industrial companies.

The business jumped from sixth place last year to third place in 2016 as a result of turnover having increased from £488 million to £815 million. The list demonstrates the important contribution of the agri-food industry to the Northern Ireland economy.

The Manufacturing 100, sponsored by HSBC and law firm Tughans, ranks the largest manufacturers in Northern Ireland by turnover.

Among food companies listed in the Top 100 are meat processors Hilton Food Group, Lynn Country Foods (Finnebrogue Artisan), Doherty and Gray and Elmgrove Foods.
Bakeries listed are Evron Foods and WD Irwin. The Top 100 also includes Dale Farm, Northern Ireland's biggest dairy coop, as well as salad processor Willowbrook Farm Foods and Johnston Brothers, a leading coffee roaster.

Distribution businesses such as SHS and food packaging firms Huhtamaki, Grenier Packaging and Beverage Plastics are also listed by the magazine in the Top 100.
Northern Ireland's agri-food industry has sales of around £5 billion and employs up to 100,000 across the extensive supply chain.