This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Partnership to increase lamb processing capacity
24/06/2005
The Executive is in discussions with supermarket chain Morrisons to help boost the lamb sector in Scotland.
The development of a facility in Aberdeenshire by the supermarket chain would be the first significant investment in lamb processing for a number of years and a welcome boost for the sector.
Scotland produces over three million lambs per year. Well over half of these currently leave Scotland for processing. The development of Morrisons' Woodhead Bros meat processing facility in Turriff would deliver additional capacity resulting in the processing up to 8,000 lambs and 1,000 cattle per week.
Rural Development Minister Ross Finnie said:
"This will be a tremendous boost for the lamb sector at a time when there is real concern about the availability of processing capacity in Scotland.
"Scotland has relied in the past on the export of lamb carcasses, a market which is now no longer sustainable. Further processing of the quality lamb we produce must be the way forward if the industry is to develop.
"I welcome this decision by Morrisons as it could lead to a significant increase in the Scottish processing capacity and enable many new consumers to have access to Scottish beef and lamb. We will continue to work with Morrisons wherever possible in order to facilitate this development."
Morrisons Chairman, Sir Kenneth Morrison, added:
"Scotland is renowned for the quality of its fresh meat and investing in the development of the Turriff plant would ensure that we are able to provide our shoppers with home-grown Scottish beef and lamb.
"We look forward to utilising the plant to its full potential and to increasing processing capacity in Scotland."
Morrisons meat processing plant in Turriff was acquired from the Kepak Group in January 2005 and currently employs around 200 people. Morrisons, the UK's 4th largest supermarket group, started life as a family run business in the northern markets. Following the takeover of Safeway in March 2004 the company now operates some 400 stores serving 10 million shoppers a week and employs 150,000.