McCain Foods' trans-Tasman managing director, Steve Yung, says the company is boosting its production capacity for processed peas, beans, corn and carrots at its Hastings factory to over 50,000 tonnes a year.
Increased vegetable processing at the Hastings site underpin exports to Australia, Japan and the Asia-Pacific region in addition to
the domestic market.
Mr Yung said that McCain has spent $70 million in the Hastings factory since buying it from Grower Foods in 1996, and Prime Minister John Key is due to open a $19m upgrade on Friday: a 5000 tonne bean processing line.
McCain Foods chief operating officer Dirk Van de Put will speak at the opening.
The plant employs 151 permanent staff and around 200 seasonal workers when all the vegetable lines are operating.
``New Zealand vegetable growers are producing high quality vegetables, and if these continue to be competitively-priced, the future of the plant ... is assured,'' said Mr Yung.
The company triggered controversy in Australian six years ago when it announced that it was slashing its Australian potato purchases and paying less for the spuds it continued to buy there, and instead sourcing potatoes from New Zealand.
The company told Victorian farmers at the time that the New Zealand industry was more competitive.
