By PHILIPPA STEVENSON
The future of Hastings as one of Heinz' big-six manufacturing centres has seen off the gloom permeating the rest of the country.
Prime Minister Helen Clark and Finance Minister Michael Cullen were yesterday basking in a business success story at a ceremony marking Heinz Watties' $100 million investment in
its two redeveloped Hastings plants.
On the King St site where Sir James Wattie established the brand 66 years ago, Helen Clark expressed her gratitude to the multinational food company.
The brand was a New Zealand icon, she said.
"I'd like to thank Heinz for having confidence in Hastings and Hawkes Bay."
Just two weeks ago, former Heinz chairman Dr Tony O'Reilly had pointed out to her that New Zealand was a great place to invest, the Prime Minister said.
"We want Heinz to make the most of it."
Hastings mayor Jeremy Dwyer dubbed the rededication of the King St factory as the most significant opening in the history of the fruit-growing province.
Heinz' nearby Tomoana plant had risen Phoenix-like from the ashes of the closed Weddel meat plant, Mr Dwyer said.
It was among events that had helped to lift the district's mood dramatically.
"Heinz Wattie and Hastings have a unique partnership of the global and the local."
The two Hastings plants now produce all the output of the company's former Japanese and Australian plants, which closed this year.
The transfer brought more than 70,000 tonnes of extra product to Hastings, taking the factory's annual production to more than 200,000 tonnes, or 350 million cans, an increase of about 60 per cent.
The volume puts the factories among Heinz' big-six operations around the world.
Heinz Australasian chief executive Neville Fielke said Hastings would eventually be the biggest canning plant in the Southern Hemisphere.
About 300 jobs were created during the two years of the factories' redevelopment, bringing the total number - excluding seasonal jobs - to 835.
Heinz Japan is the only Japanese food company to source its product almost totally overseas.
Helen Clark said she hoped it would encourage other Japanese companies to also consider shifting to New Zealand.
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