McCain closes factory down under after this season

Canadian family business McCain Foods is also closing a factory in New Zealand. The globally operating company announced this at the end of March. At the factory in Hastings, on the South Island, preserved vegetables are processed and frozen. According to McCain, production is no longer profitable and it is struggling with high inventories. That things were not going well at McCain had been clear to the affiliated growers for some time, but that the Canadian company is already pulling the plug now comes as a shock. At the end of the current season, which ends at the end of January 2027, the processing of vegetables at the factory in Hastings will also end. Here, 50,000 tons of vegetables are processed annually. The site employs 200 staff and about 100 growers are affiliated with McCain. From peas to carrots The factory was bought in the 1990s from a local party to mainly process peas, green beans, carrots and sweet corn. McCain makes frozen fries and other potato products in a separate adjacent factory. Major reduction in acreage Last month, New Zealand farmers were hit by the news that Heinz Wattie's, a part of Kraft Heinz, is going to close an important factory for the processing of canned vegetables and potato products in the country. This closure comes on top of that. According to grower organization Vegetables New Zealand, McCain accounts for a fifth of the national canned vegetable crop. A total closure is therefore a major blow to the sector. Several reasons for the closure are cited in local media. McCain had already told its growers earlier that storage capacity in its freezer warehouse is full with products and sales are not going well. Just like in the northern hemisphere, the agricultural sector in New Zealand is struggling with ever rising costs for production and processing. Exports are also becoming more expensive, especially with the recent sharp increase in container transport costs on which the country is heavily dependent.