Irish poultry plant closes

IRELAND - ONE hundred and forty jobs are to be lost in West Limerick with the shock closure of the Kantoher poultry processing plant. The Kantoher Food Products factory, which has been the primary employer in West Limerick for decades, is part of the Kerry Group. The devastating blow was dealt one week after the global Kerry Foods Group announced details of a €20 million business development programme for the Chinese market.

At a signing ceremony in Shanghai attended by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern last week, Hugh Friel, Kerry Group chief executive, said the group was expanding its Asia Pacific market presence from its operations in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.

27 January 2005