Coleraine food plant to close: 380 jobs axed

Around 480 employees are facing the axe as one of Northern Ireland's biggest food processing factories has announced it is to close.

The FarmFed chicken processing plant in Coleraine, is believed to have got into difficulty after being faced with stiff competition from low priced poultry imports and increasing costs.

The family-owned firm processes 15 million chickens a year and supplies poultry products to a number of retail outlets across the UK and Ireland, including Sainsbury's, Iceland and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The closure of the factory will have devastating effects on the Coleraine area, which already suffers from a high rate of unemployment.

The 380-strong workforce, including 90 Polish workers, have been placed on protective notice.

East Londonderry Assembly member David McClarty said that the influence supermarket giants have had on local farmers and food processors has been raising concerns for some time.

He said: "The company, like their suppliers in the rural community, have become victims of the ongoing and fiercely competitive battle for supremacy which has been fought out among the big players in the UK supermarket scene for the past number of years."

He also claimed that prices paid to producers and food processors have been kept low as supermarkets continue to compete against one another with little regard for those who are left to pick up the pieces further down the supply chain.

Mr McClarty continued by saying that the importing of chickens from outside the province was another major contributor to the demise of businesses like Farm Fed.

He added: "Job losses will have an enormous impact on Coleraine which remains a high unemployment area and it will be particularly difficult for a large number of the workforce to find employment elsewhere.

"The potential impact on numerous local farms who supply the plant is also a huge concern.

"I believe that the Government must now take seriously calls from the agricultural community and local food processors to examine the dominance of the big supermarkets in the agricultural food sector."

Sinn Féin, East Derry MLA Francie Brolly has called on local politicians to work together to save jobs at the plant.

Mr Brolly said: "This is devastating news and will potentially have a huge knock-on effect on the local economy.

"This is an important employer in the Coleraine and north coast area and will be a bad blow particularly as this area has been going through more difficult times recently. If these jobs are lost there is little prospect of a return for the processing industry in this area.

"My hope is that local politicians can put aside their differences and work together to save jobs. I believe that we can keep as much of the viable business going as possible, particularly if we work with other processing companies."

He concluded by saying that the food-processing sector is a very important part of the economy and the closure of this plant, raised wider concerns about the long-term future of the food and drinks processing sector.

(EF/SP)