Confusion over job cuts at Tulip is rife among industry insiders and analysts at a time when things were beginning to look up for UK and export markets for pork.
Tulip's pork business is doing well, according to industry commentators
The company, which is one of the UK's biggest pork processors and also handles bacon, ham, sausage and cooked meats, has announced up to 150 roles are "at risk of redundancy".
UK pork exports have been strengthening, particularly to China, and Julian Wild, food group director at law firm Rollits, recently told FoodManufacture.co.uk Tulip was in a good position to gain considerably from that.
Those within the meat processing industry confirmed the Tulip losses were unlikely to be connected to any problems with export contracts.
One industry insider told FoodManufacture.co.uk: "As far as I am aware their export business is doing really well."
Bacon
He speculated that the development could be linked to problems with the bacon side of Tulip's business. "There has been a bit of a dip in terms of [general bacon] imports from Denmark."
Tulip was at the forefront of pork exports to China after the UK struck a £50M deal to export pork to China in May last year. "As to China, it will be a driver of demand for protein for a generation or more, so nothing has changed there," said Clive Black, analyst at Shore Capital.
And Wild said the UK domestic market for pork was doing well. "I think pork is fine and GB sourcing is now very important. Tulip is a good business which is a major player."
Black added: "As you write, a new md has come into the business. Perhaps the change in contracts and a new pair of eyes at the top has led to the change."
'Need to be lean to compete'
But referring to that appointment, which was announced in February, Wild said: "Chris Thomas has only just arrived, so I'm a bit surprised if he is the driver of these changes, but Tulip will need to be very lean to compete with Cranswick who are the best in the business."
A spokesman for Tulip told FoodManufacture.co.uk there were currently 851 staff employed at the Bodmin site, 311 employed at Boston and 574 employed at King's Lynn. As a consequence, he said: "There are no plans to mothball any of these sites."
That said, he did not rule out the possibility of further job losses at other factories. "Tulip does constantly review its operation to ensure that it can remain a lowest cost supplier whilst delivering quality products to its customers in an increasingly challenging environment."
In a statement, Tulip, which runs 17 manufacturing sites, said it was looking to redeploy impacted colleagues where possible to other areas of the business.
HR director Kirsty Wilkins said: "We are currently operating in an extremely challenging economic environment which has led to the need to announce proposed changes at three of our sites as a result of a failing to secure a tender."
