Atria will close Sahalahti plant, centralize at Nurmo

After deliberations, Scandinavian food company, Atria, has decided to close its Sahalahti factory in Finland in favor of centralizing operations at its new Nurmo plant.

(Courtesy Atria Group)
(Courtesy Atria Group)

After deliberations, Scandinavian food company, Atria, has decided to close its Sahalahti factory in Finland in favor of centralizing operations at its new Nurmo plant. 

According to a press release, signed by CEO Juha Gröhn, the restructuring “is to improve the competitiveness and profitability of the poultry business and increase the efficiency of industrial operations.”

The closure is set for 2024, and the 130 Sahalahti employees will be offered the opportunity to relocate to other Atria factories in Finland.  

The company aims for the closure to add approximately EUR5 million (US$5.3 million) of annual savings. 

Atria’s Nurmo plant

Atria announced the EUR155 million (US$181 million) Nurmo construction project October 2020 with its completion set for 2024.

“The planning phase of the construction project and the application processes for the necessary official permits began about a year ago. The poultry production facilities in Nurmo need to be modernized, and we need to increase our capacity to be able to better meet future consumer demand,” said Gröhn in a 2020 press release. “In order to strengthen our position as the number one poultry producer in Finland, we decided to make the largest single investment in our company’s history.” 

With new slaughtering, cutting and packaging lines, the Nurmo plant is expected to increase poultry production capacity by about 40%.

Atria’s closure of its Malmö plant

Sahalahti is not the first plant Atria has closed. In 2021, Atria announced the closure of its Malmö facility in Sweden with operations being absorbed by two other Swedish facilities,  Sköllersta and Moheda, and one in Denmark, Hansted – a EUR30 million (US$36.6 million) restructuring project that is still ongoing. 

According to the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database, Atria is a leading poultry and pork producer in Europe with locations in Finland, Sweden and Denmark, and 45 million head slaughtered annually. 

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