Randers, 12 August 2015 

Continued high levels of slaughter pig supplies now makes Danish Crown restore 110 of the work places that were closed at the abattoir in Ringsted, Denmark, in the month of March. The number of dismissals is thereby reduced from originally 300 to now less than 100.

- It is incredibly positive that we can now further limit the number of dismissals in Ringsted. At the same time it is wonderful to be able to tell our plant manager to cancel the dismissal notices for a large group of employees, who would otherwise lose their job when the holiday period ends in a couple of weeks, says Søren F. Eriksen, VP Production, Danish Crown.  

The Ringsted abattoir slaughter capacity was prior to the adjustment in March at 54,000 pigs per week. According to plans that figure should have been reduced to 34,000. Meanwhile with a new part time team and restoring of the 110 positions it will in future be possible to slaughter up to 45,000 pigs per week.

- For the first time in more than ten years we see stabilising of the slaughter pig production in Denmark, but unfortunately indications are that this is on the basis of a sad background. At the moment the price of pork is very low across Europe and therefore the price of weaners for export has also dropped dramatically. It is our experience that some of the producers of piglets as a consequence of low prices choose to keep the weaners and fatten them as this is the least poor solution to them right now, says Søren F. Eriksen.

We had already succeeded in creating jobs for 22 of the dismissed employees in the Japan part of the abattoir while up to 50 have been offered to work on a new part time team.