Northern Ireland's Moy Park drives UK poultry industry

Moy Park, the Northern Irish poultry processor, has been named the driving force in the UK industry in a major Economic Impact Study by Oxford Economics.

Oxford Economics reported that the UK poultry industry makes a &pound3.3 billion gross value added contribution to UK GDP and supports 73,000 jobs.

Moy Park, based at Craigavon in county Armagh and now owned by Brazil's Marfrig, contributed over &pound1 billion in sales and employed 11,000 people across the UK, the report said.

The company provides 5,500 jobs in Northern Ireland factories in Craigavon, Dungannon and Ballymena as well as in hatcheries and feed mills. The company is Northern Ireland's biggest private sector enterprise and a major exporter of poultry products.

The report was commissioned by the British Poultry Council, the trade body for the UK poultry meat industry, and will be conducted annually as a benchmark for the industry and economy as a whole.

The report said that for every &pound1 billion the industry contributes in gross value added, a further &pound1.3 billion is generated to the rest of the UK economy. It supports &pound1 billion in total tax payable to the Exchequer.

According to the study, poultry is more popular with consumers than any other meat. The average household spent &pound2 per week on fresh, chilled or frozen poultry in 2013.

Tony O'Neill, Moy Park's director of convenience foods and new business, says: "As a leading employer in Northern Ireland we welcome this new research which clearly demonstrates the significant contribution that the industry makes to the UK economy.

"As a business Moy Park is focused on growth and continuous improvement. We believe the poultry industry has the potential to contribute even more over the coming years and we aim to be at the forefront of that growth."

A strategic action plan for the poultry industry in Northern Ireland last year recommended a series of measures to ensure faster growth. The plan set a series of challenges including a 70 per cent growth in turnover and a 77 per cent rise in sales outside Northern Ireland to over &pound1 billion by 2020. Employment is projected to grow by 23 per cent to almost 7,000.