Silver Fern Farms, a New Zealand-based meat processor and marketer, is looking at options to shut its processing plant near Dunedin, Otago due to a drop in lamb slaughter operations.
The move is expected to result in about 180 job losses.
Last week the company told the lamb-cut workers about the proposed closure, and it plans to move some production to its facility in Finegand near Balclutha.
However, around 180 workers would be called in December to work until May.
Silver Fern Farms CEO Keith Cooper said that the lamb kill was down 8.5% across the country, adding that the Chinese customers are seeking less sophisticated' types of lamb-cut processing.
In October, the company opened a casing facility at its Finegand plant, adding 40 jobs.
Finegand previously had a casing facility which was shut in 2005 due to demand for green runners. The new facility is claimed to use less than half of the water requirements over the previous system.
