Canned fruit and vegetables giant Del Monte Pacific is closing two of tinned vegetable plants operated by its US subsidiary, Del Monte Foods.
The factories in Toppenish, Washington, and Markesan, Wisconsin are to close by the end of April.
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Green beans are manufactured at the Markesan plant, while Toppenish processes tinned corn and peas.
None of the 90 people working at Markesan are represented by a trade union, according to the Wisconsin notice.
Some 90 workers will be affected at the plant in Markesan, while 127 will lose their jobs at Toppenish, WARN filings from each state indicate.
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Just Food has asked the Contadina brand owner to confirm the size of each of the facilities. It declined to comment on whether it was selling both plants to another company.
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By GlobalDataIn a statement sent to Just Food, a Del Monte Foods spokesperson said the closure was “an extremely difficult decision, but one that Del Monte Foods needed to make to align and streamline operational capacity with consumer demand”.
They added that the company had been grappling with “a general reset in consumer behavior, realigning with buying habits at pre-Covid levels and has required the company to assess its manufacturing network and reduce the number of facilities”.
While production is due to cease in a couple of months, labelling and distribution are due to continue until the latter half of the year, the company said.
The spokesperson added: “In the meantime, we are in the process of bargaining with the union in Toppenish over the effects of the closure. The company is committed to doing all we can to provide the affected team members with resources and support.”
In its latest financial results for the period ended October 29, 2023, Del Monte Foods booked a 5% increase in annual net sales compared to the same point in 2022, at $808.7m.
Gross profits were down 27.7% year-on-year to $159.1m
In 2019, Del Monte Pacific announced the closure of another two facilities in the US, in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota and Mendota, Illinois. More than 360 roles were expected to be affected at the time.
