€ 200 million) within 2 years and preferably sooner Danish Crown’s cooperative owners are currently being presented with the plan aimed at transforming Danish Crown from an abattoir based on economies of scale into a modern food company Danish Crown has been severely challenged in terms of its competitive strength Even though current prices for pigs are close to a record-high settlement prices for pigs in Denmark are currently far below those of the rest of Europe it has not been sufficiently attractive for Danish farmers to fatten pigs for slaughter in Denmark so over the course of the summer period management has dedicated its efforts to drawing up a plan to simplify and rethink Danish Crown’s core business,’ the company says Danish Crown recently closed a deboning facility in Boizenburg Germany and reduced the number of slaughters in its German facility by approximately 10% In the German sales and administration team administrative and support functions must be streamlined to reduce annual costs by at least DKK 250 million (€ 33,5 million) while improved exploitation of capacity at abattoirs and factories and a more efficient and technologically advanced setup is to reduce production costs by at least DKK 500 million € 67 million) Earnings should be lifted by DKK 500 million by sales initiatives focused on core customers in retail Profitability in the German slaughter activities and at the processing plant in China as well as completion of investment in a new bacon factory in the UK are to contribute DKK 250 million an additional savings potential has been identified in procurement as well as an opportunity for enhanced earnings in the Group’s subsidiaries which could potentially contribute up to DKK 500 million Danish Crown is facing challenges particularly in its core business which is placed in BU Danish Crown and handles the slaughtering of pigs in Denmark and Germany and the processing of primarily pork ‘The pressure on this part of our business is driven mainly by an unusually prolonged and sharp decline in exports to key markets like China Danish Crown has always been able to find alternative sales channels outside Europe during periods of declining sales in one or more of the attractive export markets when prices of frozen pork in the global markets are much lower than prices of fresh pork in Europe Danish Crown is unable to remain competitive because the high level of Danish wages makes the costs of slaughtering cutting and deboning pigs more than DKK 1 per kilo higher in Denmark than in countries like Germany It remains a fact that efficiency and optimum utilisation of production facilities will pave the way for profitability in the food industry ‘We therefore need to sell more in an already competitive European market characterised by strong preferences for local products The solution is to redefine the business model and dedicate all resources to producing and selling products that will attract a sufficiently high price to offset the higher production costs in Denmark we risk being second choice to lower-priced local products because of our higher production costs.” “We cannot solve our challenges through savings and efficiency improvements alone because this is also a matter of having the right business model but we owe it to our cooperative owners to cut to the bone in the present situation’ this should help close the gap to the other European countries it remains a fact that efficiency and optimum utilisation of production facilities will pave the way for profitability in the food industry but since we aggregated our pig abattoirs and processing activities in one business unit two years ago The group said it is adjusting its approach to the German market “with the clear aim of improving earnings” Meat group Danish Crown has announced the closure of a 200-employee facility in Germany citing declining numbers of slaughtered animals and decreasing consumption of pork The co-operative said it is “adjusting its approach” to the German market in order to improve earnings including the closure of a deboning facility in Boizenburg The Danish group plans to transfer “a large part of the [Boizenburg facility’s] activities” to its abattoir in Essen within the next six months employees will be offered work at other facilities in the Danish Crown group The company is currently negotiating offers for staff It means all pig slaughtering and deboning will be done at Danish Crown’s Essen abattoir “We simply have to make more money in Germany,” said group CEO Jais Valeur we believe it is time to shift the focus from pure large-scale production to a more agile setup “The abattoir in Essen has an important task in supplying our own processing facilities with raw materials and at the same time production will be adapted so that we can produce exactly the goods that our customers in both Germany and the rest of Europe demand from week to week.” Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis Danish Crown employs around 3,400 staff in Germany across one pig abattoir two cattle abattoirs and three processing facilities “It is a sad situation because there are many skilled and loyal employees at the facility in Boizenburg,” said Per Laursen they will be offered a job at one of our other facilities.” Danish Crown said it will begin “winding down” production in Boizenburg once negotiations with staff are complete following which it expects to sell the buildings It comes as last year the company announced potential job cuts in Denmark though structural reshuffling reduced total cuts from 350 staff to 140 In November, Danish Crown announced plans to build a UK pork facility for the supply of bacon and gammon Just Food interview, November 2022: “You need to make big, bold moves once in a while” – Danish Crown CEO Jais Valeur on investing in capex and navigating the downturn Nominations are now open for the prestigious Just Food Excellence Awards 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Global pork giant Danish Crown has announced the closure of a major pork plant in Germany, in response to falling pig production in what has traditionally been one of Europe’s biggest pork producers.  The group’s plant in Boizenburg, east of Hamburg, will close, affecting more than 200 employees. After producing pork at the facility for almost 20 years, the plan is to transfer a large part of the production to the company’s abattoir in Essen, near Bremen, within the next six months. Explaining its decision to reduce production capacity in Germany, the company pointed out that since Germany was hit by African swine fever in the early autumn of 2020, pig production has dropped significantly. From being one of Europe’s leading exporters of pork, Germany has now been reduced to a country with a focus on the domestic market, it said. Per Laursen, the group’s production director said was a ‘sad situation’, with many skilled and loyal employees at theBoizenburg facility. “To the extent that it is possible, they will be offered a job at one of our other facilities,” he said. The management in Boizenburg is now negotiating with the facility’s work committee about the conditions for transferring employees to other facilities, as well as what can be done for the employees who may not want to accept the offer of another job in the group. Editor Pig World, group editor Agronomist and Arable Farmer and Farm Contractor. National Pig Association webmaster. Former political editor at Farmers Guardian. Occasional media pundit. Brought up on a Leicestershire farm. Works from a shed in his Oxfordshire garden. WWII Bomber Command veteran Lawrence Larmer received France's highest decoration - the Legion of Honour medal Link copiedShareShare articleA decorated World War II heavy bomber pilot has cleared his conscience 70 years after the war's end by penning an apology to the German towns he bombed "I'm getting older, and for some time the thought kept coming back to me, 'how would I have felt if the Japanese had bombed Melbourne and what if I'd been killed?'" Mr Larmer said. Every day we are going to start war still, aren't we? I don't know if we'll ever learn. "Knowing I'd bombed German cities, I had been responsible for the deaths of a lot of innocent men, women and children ... I felt sorry for what had happened. "I thought 'golly, what will I do? I'll write to these people and tell them'." In a letter distributed via Germany's ambassador to Australia, Mr Larmer addressed the citizens of several German cities he had bombed, including Wangerooge, Boizenburg, Hagen and Dortmund. Mr Larmer said he had already received responses from six local mayors and was deeply relieved to receive forgiveness and gratitude from them. "Some said their grandfathers and grandmothers, uncles and aunties had been killed. But none of them said 'you dirty rotten so-and-so'," Mr Larmer said. Retired RAF pilot Lawrence Larmer says he feel relieved to have made peace with the citizens of the cities he helped destroy. (ABC Local: Clare Rawlinson) In one letter, the mayor of Wangerooge wrote of Mr Larmer's apology: "This raises hope that war must not happen again at any time. Your letter became a part of this hope in the minds of our young people." The letter was accompanied by photographs and a tourist brochure to demonstrate how well the city had rebuilt itself since the wartime bombings. Another letter, from the mayor of Dortmund, spoke of how 93 per cent of the city had been bombed in WWII, but was now a thriving home to 600,000 people. "After the war, we were given the opportunity to rebuild our city within a free and democratic country, which could not have happened if the Allied Forces had not defeated us," the mayor wrote. "So your mission with Bomber Command of the RAF served a good purpose." During the war, German cities were considered legitimate targets for bombing raids because Bomber Command had been tasked with destroying industrial districts as part of its military strategy. The bombing of German cities killed between 305,000 and 600,000 civilians. More than 3,000 Australians who served in RAF Bomber Command also died during the raids. Mr Larmer said he despaired that the world had not learnt from the devastation of the bombings. "Every day we are going to war still, aren't we? I don't know if we'll ever learn." This RAF bomber crew used bombs ready for loading as seats while studying their map. The aircraft is a Vickers Wellington Mark IC. (Imperial War Museum: CH2187) CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) The Rothkötter company said goodbye to Managing Director Wilfried Fleming in retirement Fleming left his mark on Rothkötter and continuously developed the company The reproduction of full articles - even if the source is mentioned - is only permitted with written consent from feedmagazine No responsibility or liability is assumed for the content of offers that can be accessed via links and do not originate from Deutschen Fachverlag.