Danish Crown's pig slaughter capacity back to normal levels
Danish Crown announced in a press release that is ready to welcome new unit holders, as the capacity in pig slaughterhouses has been brought back to normal levels. "A fantastic effort has been made over the last six months. Especially the drivers who pick up the pigs and the staff at the slaughterhouses have really made a difference in the efforts to catch up with what we were behind. Therefore, we can now advance pigs before Easter, and we also believe it is prudent to take the first new members from the waiting list," says Erik Bredholt, who is chairman of the board of Danish Crown.
It was an increasing pressure on slaughter capacity that in early October led Danish Crown to introduce a temporary waiting list for the admission of new pig unit owners. The supply of pigs was already increasing before the outbreak of African swine fever in Germany, and at the same time, extensive measures against COVID-19 had a negative effect on slaughter capacity.
With the prospect of even more pigs for slaughter, Danish Crown's Board of Directors chose to focus on maintaining a good service for the existing owners and at the same time create a temporary waiting list for new unit holders. At the same time, efforts were made to increase the slaughter capacity at the Group's Danish slaughterhouses.
"From the outside, it may seem like a simple task to slaughter more pigs, but since last spring, the capacity has actually been significantly increased. In other words, there are over 200 extra pick-ups of pigs from the unit holders every week, and more than 500 new employees have been hired at the slaughterhouses to solve the task. Just after Christmas, we were more than a week behind with the slaughter, but now they have over 300,000 pigs caught up. It is very satisfying," says Erik Bredholt.
The status right now is that there are more than 70 farmers on the waiting list with an annual production of over 700,000 slaughter pigs. Initially, new members will be opened, corresponding to deliveries of 5,000-7,000 pigs per week or between 250,000 and 350,000 pigs on an annual basis. As a starting point, new unit holders will be admitted after the date of when they expressed their wish to become unit holders in Danish Crown in writing. However, the Danish Crown board has decided to prioritize the admission of those farmers who are starting or are already building new stables.
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