Two years ago, Espersen decided to acquire the fish processing plant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to which Espersen had outsourced part of the Asian fillet production. This summer the plant was renovated extensively and it has been decided to increase the fillet production in Vietnam.
Consequently, the fillet production outsourced to China is discontinued in connection with the Chinese New Year in February 2016.
Espersen has been in China for almost 11 years – and it has been a fascinating chapter in the Espersen history. We have for quite some time known – and publicly expressed – that production in China for the European market would lose its competitive moment within some years. The increasing inflation in China combined with the heavily increasing US-dollar have been contributory factors in taking the decision to stop production in China proactively and faster than originally planned.
In return, we get the opportunity to increase production in our own plant in Vietnam and continue to service our customers in Europe and North America; this decision is supported by the fact that Vietnam and the European Union have made a new trade agreement.
Furthermore, we are going to increase production in our existing European plants, which means that the majority of the present Chinese production is replaced by production in Vietnam and Europe.
Espersen’s sales office in Hong Kong is maintained.
Bornholm, September 24, 2015
Klaus Beyer Nielsen
CEO
/lbn