Brazil's Marfrig Group chief visits Northern Ireland's Moy Park

Marcus Molina, chief executive of Marfrig Group of Brazil, owner of the Moy Park poultry business, visited Northern Ireland to explore investment opportunities.

Mr Molina meet Northern Ireland's First Minister, the Rt Hon Peter D Robinson MLA and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA, to discuss potential investment opportunities at Moy Park, the region's biggest business which has an annual turnover in excess of £1 billion and employs more than 5,000 people.

Moy Park has production operations at Craigavon in county Armagh, Ballymena, county Antrim and Dungannon, county Tyrone.



Northern Ireland's Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster MLA was also at the meeting in Belfast with Mr Molina, who was accompanied by Tony O'Neill, new business Director at Moy Park. The meeting was organised during Mr Molina's visit to explore development plans at Moy Park, part of the Marfrig Group since 2008.



The meeting follows discussions with Marfrig during last year's visit by the three ministers during their business missions to Brazil.



Mr Robinson said: "Marfrig is already a substantial investor in Northern Ireland and its support has enabled Moy Park to become one of our biggest private sector businesses, with annual sales in excess of £1billion.

"The recent decision to move its European headquarters to Craigavon was a major endorsement of Northern Ireland as a world class manufacturing location for international companies in food and other sectors.



"The Northern Ireland Executive continues to encourage and assist this immensely impressive company to expand its processing operations and R&D investment here. Invest Northern Ireland is already working with the company across a range of projects designed to enhance its overall competitiveness especially in markets outside Northern Ireland."

Mr McGuinness said: "Moy Park's strategic focus on export market-led innovation is fully in tune with the Executive's Programme for Government which aims to transform our economy, into a private-sector driven economy, through support for innovation targeted at international markets.



"Significantly Moy Park is now an integral part of Marfrig, one of the world's most successful businesses. Marfrig's achievements in the global marketplace show how a business can prosper through a commitment to growth through continuous investment in its facilities, products and people."