Moy Park sets up new product centre in Northern Ireland

Poultry processor Moy Park is setting up a new product development centre as part of a £170 million expansion at its plants in Northern Ireland. The expansion at the Brazilian owned company's three plants at Craigavon, Ballymena and Dungannon will provide 628 new jobs including 70 in the planned Innovation Centre.

The new innovation centre will be located at Craigavon, now the European headquarters of Marfrig, Moy Park's parent company. In addition, Marfrig will set up a new financial services centre at Craigavon for its European operations.

The new jobs, 100 of which are already in place, include roles in management, supervisory, processing and financial shared services.

Sergio Rial, chief executive officer of Marfrig Global Foods, said: "We are committed to growing our operations in Northern Ireland and this investment, with support from Invest Northern Ireland, helps us to achieve that.

"We have had ongoing, positive engagement with the Northern Ireland Executive and have experienced a very pro-business attitude."

Moy Park chief executive, Janet McCollum, added: "Moy Park started as a small farming company in 1943 and has grown into a top UK business with a £1.5 billion turnover. We continue to have big ambitions and this investment will allow us to further grow our operations and create new jobs in Northern Ireland."

The expansion will feature additional processing lines to enable the company to achieve its objective of a significant growth in the sale of poultry products and convenience meals throughout Europe and further afield by 2018

The investment is being supported by Invest NI, the region's business development agency, which is providing £9.5 million towards costs. The additional employment will mean an extra £10,5 million in salaries and wages a year to the local economy. Invest NI support for the expansion was announced by Arlene Foster, the Enterprise, Trade and Investment minister for Northern Ireland.

Moy Park, which was acquired by Marfrig, the Brazilian food group in 2008, is Northern Ireland's biggest private sector employer and the only business with a turnover in excess of £1 billion. The company currently employs over 3,000 people in Northern Ireland and a similar number at plants in England and France.