A new poultry processing plant in Wrexham is actively looking for local farmers to supply it with chickens.
Ministers from the Welsh Assembly and the Mayor of Wrexham will visit the plant as it becomes fully operational following an investment of more than £20m.
Rural Affairs Secretary Lesley Griffiths and Cabinet Secretary for Economy & Transport Ken Skates, together with the Mayor of Wrexham John Pritchard will tour Maelor Foods on November 23.
They will officially open the facility that has been built on the site of the former First Milk factory that closed down in 2014. After an extensive period of planning, refurbishment and building, Maelor Foods will begin processing poultry towards the end of this year.
The new plant has created more than 70 jobs, but it now seeks local farmers to help supply the plant with chickens.
The Welsh government has assisted with the funding for the processing centre by awarding it a £3.15m grant from the Food Business Investment Scheme, which is designed to provide support to businesses that are involved in first or second stage processing activities.
Family owned firm
Maelor Foods is associated with Midlands-based Salisbury Poultry that was established in 1989 and is a leader in the UK's poultry processing sector.T
The family owned firm employs more than 600 full-time staff at its base in Bilston in the West Midlands.
Managing Director Raj Mehta said: “The Ministers’ and Mayor’s visit will mark the culmination of an extensive refurbishment and extension programme, which has involved remodelling the existing buildings to create a state of the art poultry processing production and slaughtering facilities.
Mr Mehta added: “As well as creating jobs for local people during the refurbishment and with the new roles we are introducing, we are very pleased to be supporting the wider supply chain in the agriculture sector.
“We are actively looking for more farmers to supply us with birds as we head towards working at our operational capacity. We held two open days in October for farmers and received a very enthusiastic response from visitors who were very impressed with the facility and wanted to learn more about becoming Maelor suppliers.”
