Hawke's Bay mayors ask McCain to pause plant closure
Four mayors in New Zealand's Hawke's Bay region have asked Canadian food group McCain Foods to delay the closure of its Hastings vegetable processing plant by six months and to join talks with potential alternative buyers. The plant supports 240 direct jobs and around 600 indirect positions.
The mayors of Hastings, Napier, Central Hawke's Bay and Wairoa sent a joint letter on Thursday to McCain Foods' senior leadership in Toronto. The letter asks the company to delay the closure of its Hastings vegetable processing plant, announced in March and due to take effect at the end of September, by six months and to join talks with alternative buyers, including potential subsidiaries of the New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra.
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the plant represents 35% of the region's agricultural processing capacity and that closure would mean an annual NZ$78 million loss to the local economy. McCain previously said the decision was part of a global rationalisation programme, with production shifting to Ballarat, Australia.
There was no immediate comment from Fonterra or Wattie's, the Heinz-Watson subsidiary. The FIRST Union confirmed it is involved in the discussions. The Ministry of Regional Development said a six-month retraining package would be offered to the 240 employees if closure proceeds. Regional output data show Hawke's Bay's food-processing employment has fallen faster than the national average over the past three years.
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