250 people lose jobs in meatworks closure

250 meatworkers are to lose their jobs in the closure of a Marlborough plant, announced today.

The Marlborough Express newspaper reported today that the Primary Producers Cooperative Society had begun rationalising its operations in the north of the South Island and would close it Meatworks near Blenheim immediately.

PPCS chairman Jim Pringle said changing land uses and declining stock numbers in Marlborough made it uneconomic to keep the meatworks going, the newspaper reported.

"The closure of the Marlborough plant has been forced on PPCS by the changing farming patterns from sheep to grapes," Mr Pringle said.