Feilding dealt another jobs blow

Hard on the heels of news Feilding's McCain Foods potato processing plant will close in December, the town has been dealt another jobs loss blow.

Heavy transport trailer manufacturer Fruehauf Pacific Ltd cut 20 jobs from its Feilding workforce on Friday -- five of them from management staff and 15 from the production line, the Manawatu Standard reported today.

General manager Alan Simpson told the newspaper that after three years of buoyant activity, business had slowed and downsizing was required to meet the "softer market conditions".

There would be no impact on branch operations in Auckland and Christchurch.

The downsizing will reduce the Feilding staff level to 46.

The newspaper said Fruehauf Pacific began as a Domett family company in the 1940s and entered a licensing arrangement with United States-based Freuhauf in 1969.

The Feilding operation changed its name to Freuhauf Pacific Ltd in 1991 and the Domett family sold its interests in 1994.

On Friday it was announced that up to 140 jobs would be lost in Feilding when the McCain plant closes.

The New Zealand managing director of McCain Foods Australia, Steve Yung, said upgrading the 20-year-old plant would require significant investment.

The Feilding plant had become too uneconomic to continue and the company would instead focus on upgrading and investing in its Timaru plant.

- NZPA