Cranswick investing £4m in Northern Ireland plant

Leading UK pork processor Cranswick is investing £4 million in its Northern Ireland plant to boost productivity.

The company plans to spend an additional £2 million to a similar investment made shortly after Cranswick acquired the business from Dunbia, the Dungannon, county Tyrone meat processor, last year.

Cranswick chief executive Adam Crouch says the new investment would be used to hit Cranswick's long-term target of boosting pig processing numbers from 8,000 a week to 14,000.

"We acquired it in November last year, and we have already spent over £2 million in flows, production, butchery and the packing hall," Crouch says. "In the next 18 months, it will be another £2 million.

"We have a good strong workforce; we have increased automation. We are looking to see how far we can grow the pig numbers."

Since Cranswick acquired the county Antrim site in November, it has increased pig processing numbers to 10,000 a week.

The Northern Ireland purpose-built facility employed 360 people at the time. The Dunbia acquisition was Cranswick's fifth takeover in five years.

Cranswick was established in the 1970s, and entered the stock market in 1985. In 1991, it began processing pork and cooked meats. By last year, the business included: chicken rearing, premium cooked poultry processing, pig breeding and rearing, pasties production and bacon processing.