Atria is considering plans to close its poultry plant in Sahalahti, Finland, in an effort to make the company’s poultry business more efficient and competitive.
The Scandinavian protein company announced on September 19 that it is launching a development program to help it navigate a “changed operating environment.” The development program will be implemented in phases.
Atria, in a press release, said the first phase of the program will be to begin “negotiations on changes in the poultry unit in Sahalahti in accordance with the collective redundancy law.” Those negotiations will include the possible closure of the facility and its workforce of 130 people.
If the plant were to close, Atria stated it would expect to save around EUR5 million (US$4.98 million) annually, with that savings to be realized from the end of 2024.
The negotiations concerning the fate of the Sahalahti plant will not affect the staff at Atria’s other production sites, the company said.
However, the second phase of Atria’s development program will involve the company’s newest poultry plant, located in Nurmo. The company announced plans to build the Nurmo site in 2020.
In that phase, negotiations are planned to prepare for the commissioning of the new poultry plant and to prepare for the renewal of work tasks and working practices.
The press release announcing the development program was signed by Atria CEO Juha Gröhn.
This announcement follows another announcement made in May, in which Atria revealed it would close its plant in Malmö, Sweden, and move the production done at that facility to the plants in Sköllersta and Moheda in Sweden and to Hansted in Denmark.
In addition to Finland, Sweden and Denmark, Atria also has operations in Estonia.
Atria is not the only European poultry company that is considering closing a poultry plant. Earlier this month, Moy Park announced it proposed to close the plant in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, U.K.
