Danish Crown is moving ahead with plans to expand its pork processing capacity in Denmark through a new facility in Vejen.
In a statement, the co-operative said the decision is driven by rising pig supplies from farmers, which has prompted a need for more deboning capacity.
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The additional output from the Vejen site is intended for export as finished products to what the company described as “attractive markets”, including destinations in Asia.
Headquartered in Randers, the co-op expects to create around 100 jobs at the new location.
Niels Ulrich Duedahl, the group CEO of Danish Crown, said: “It is fantastic that we are now hiring more employees. This is the result of once again receiving more pigs for slaughter, which creates a need for more hands.
“We have therefore carefully assessed where and how we could expand our production. By doing so in Denmark, we can sell the products fresh in Europe and as well export them frozen to customers around the world, and it is precisely this flexibility that we have prioritised.”
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataOperations at the Vejen plant are scheduled to begin around 1 October this year. Danish Crown said it plans to debone about 60,000 pork fore ends a week at the facility, which is located in buildings the group already owns.
The raw material for the Vejen plant will be sourced from Danish Crown’s slaughterhouses in Horsens, Herning, Rønne and Blans near Sønderborg. The new factory will occupy part of roughly 14,000 square metres of premises that Danish Crown acquired in 2023.
The investment follows an internal reorganisation at Danish Crown announced last April, when the company split what it termed its “core business” into three separate divisions: Danish Crown Industry, Danish Crown Foods and Danish Crown UK.
Jesper Sørensen, SVP of production at Danish Crown Industry, added: “In recent months, we have been utilising the deboning capacity at our Danish slaughterhouses to the fullest, which is why we need to expand.
“By establishing a specialised production facility in Vejen, we can achieve very high efficiency. At the same time, it will reduce complexity at our abattoirs, allowing them to operate more efficiently as well.”
Danish Crown has begun seeking the necessary regulatory approvals for the project.
It expects permits to be secured before the end of the first quarter of the year, paving the way for production to run on a two-shift basis from 1 October.
