375 new jobs in Danish Crown

Huge Asian demand and more pigs for slaughter makes Danish Crown hire a total of 375 new employees at three of the group's abattoirs in Denmark

The demand for Danish pork from countries outside Europe increases, and at the same time there are more pigs in the Danish stables than for a long time. Therefore, Danish Crown needs an epic number of new employees at the Danish abattoirs in Ringsted, Horsens and Blans.

- This is the largest recruitment round in Danish Crown since we opened the new abattoir in Horsens more than 15 years ago. We need more people to slaughter, debone and pack our goods. Of course, we hope that we can get some in who have previously worked at an abattoir. However, our expectation is that we will train a large part of the 375 new employees from scratch, and if you have a passion for craftsmanship and quality, there is a really good chance of getting a job now at Danish Crown, says Per Laursen, Production Director at Danish Crown Pork.

Over the past year, there has been a turnaround in the production of pigs for slaughter in Denmark. Since the New Year, just over three percent more pigs have been slaughtered at Danish abattoirs compared to the same period in 2019. This development now appears to accelerate after Germany was hit by African swine fever in the beginning of September.

Following the outbreak, German export has been barred to most countries outside Europe. Therefore, German slaughter pig settlement is now far below the price Danish Crown pays Danish farmers. In other words, it is now attractive to raise pigs in Denmark, rather than selling them to farmers in Poland and Germany when they weigh around 30 kilos. And that change already makes an impact on Danish Crown's forecasts.

- We follow the development at our owners’s farms very closely. Looking two to three months ahead, we expect about 15,000 more pigs for slaughter each week than what we expected a month ago. This is why it is time for us to hire more people, so we are completely ready when the workload becomes bigger, says Søren F. Eriksen, CEO of Danish Crown Pork.

For the past 18 months, demand for Danish pork has been really good, and it has become even greater now that Germany is barred from most markets in Asia.

China is by far the largest market for Danish pork, but Japan, Korea, Australia and the countries in Southeast Asia have also turned their attention to Denmark. For decades, Japan has been an attractive market for Danish pork, and great demand from Japan in particular is the explanation for the fact that most new employees should be hired in Ringsted.

- We need 160 men in Ringsted alone. This is quite a few, but the employees at the abattoir are looking forward to welcoming their new colleagues. The same applies to both Blans and Horsens, with a need for 45 and 150 new employees, respectively. In addition, our subsidiary DAT-Schaub will need 20 new employees, says Per Laursen.

The new employees will start almost immediately. The plan is to start training of the first new employees already following the autumn break. Danish Crown has approx. 8,000 employees in Denmark and a total of 23,000 employees globally.