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Today, the executive board of Vion Zeven AG has announced to employees, customers and suppliers that the slaughterhouse in Zeven will be closed. For its future activities in Lower Saxony, Vion Food North GmbH has taken the decision to focus and invest in the Emstek facility because this site is best suited to provide the necessary access to the global markets.
The market for pork meat has changed in past years. While they were primarily regional (and national) in the past, it is now necessary to also capture global market opportunities. Vion Zeven AG is loss making and has no possibility to operate profitably in the future.
Vion regrets this unavoidable step but wishes to maintain and strengthen its presence in the strategic production area of Lower Saxony through its facility in Emstek. This site provides an ideal bridge to regional and global markets thanks to its scale (it has the authorization to slaughter 70,000 animals per week) and its export licenses to most important export markets in Europe and globally. Vion will further invest to expand Emstek's capacity to 80,000 animals per week.
The termination of the slaughter and production at the location Zeven will be discussed during an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of Vion Zeven AG on 19 April.
Today, during a work meeting in Zeven, the executive board of Vion Zeven AG gave information about the closure of the location, and announced that meetings with the works council will take place immediately in order to negotiate an alignment of interests and an agreement on a social plan. 113 Employees, 8 trainees and a retrained person are affected by the closure. Several employees will be offered a job at another location within Vion.
Vion Zeven AG's customers will in the future be supplied through Vion’s other locations in Emstek and Perleberg. Production associations, livestock traders and farmers will be encouraged to supply their animals to Emstek and Perleberg.
March 9, 2017 - Vion Food Group
