Top-fruit specialist Worldwide Fruit has announced the decision to grade and pack fruit at its other Kent facilities and to use the former East Kent Packers facility at Faversham as a storage operation.

The decision comes a year after the company was formed as a joint venture between the UK top-fruit grower organisation Northcourt Group and Worldwide Fruit, itself a joint venture between a UK importer and NZ top fruit exporter Enza, specialising in imported fruit.

Worldwide Fruit ceo, Alasdair Robertson issued the following statement: 'This announcement reflects our continuing long term commitment to the future of our UK top fruit growers. We must continually review our operating methods to ensure least cost distribution as well as optimising returns to growers.

'When we formed the joint venture with the Northcourt Group, we committed to not only be the commercial face for the UK packers and growers, but to also to commit to an on-going strategy aimed at ensuring the long term viability of this sector.

'Amongst our group are excellent packing facilities. Given the historical trends within the UK industry, and the anticipated change in volumes from New Zealand under a deregulated environment, the continuation of the Bysing Wood Road as a packing and grading site would not achieve our stated objectives within the UK industry.

Inevitably this would also lead to internal competition within the group that would be commercially damaging The Bysing Wood road site is however a top-class, purpose-built facility for the storage of fruit under air and controlled atmosphere environments. Its survival as an efficient and cost effective storage site is vital to the well being of the UK industry as a whole, and it is our intention therefore to focus the business on storage only at that site in the future.

'As a result of these changes WWF has announced that regrettably there will be a number or redundancies at the site. A process of consultation with employees has begun and at this stage the precise number of redundancies therefore cannot be confirmed although it is likely to be in the order of 80.

'Since the joint venture between WWF and Northcourt the company has continually stressed the need to pro-actively respond to the demands of the market place.

'The industry and the group has over capacity in grading and packing facilities and therefore there is a pressing need to consolidate such activities in order to enhance the ability to invest in new machinery and technology that will have a mutual benefit to customers and growers.

'It is within this context that today's announcement is made.'

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