IRISH-BASED meat giants Dunbia have announced that its lamb retail operation at Llanybydder will be moving to Cross Hands shortly.

But the firm insists that the switch is to allow the expansion of its lamb-processing facilities at the ‘flagship’ Llanybydder plant to consolidate its position as the most advanced lamb-production facility in Europe.

A spokesman said: “The small number of staff affected by the movement of the retail packing operations will be given the opportunity to transfer into other roles at Llanybydder, or to move to Cross Hands.”

A source told the Cambrian News it was understood that only a small number of jobs would be impacted by the changes, with the scale of any job losses likely be less than at the recently closed Felinfach facility, where 34 staff out of 141 employed at the site opted for redundancy.

The precise number of jobs affected by this latest development cannot be determined until a staff consultation is completed.

The new move comes after the Cambrian News revealed in April that Dunbia was closing its Felinfach plant.

Now Llanybydder’s small lamb retail packing operation is set to follow suit. 

“The move sees Dunbia making further substantial capital investment in its lamb processing in Wales as the business gears for further growth, and is a sign of the company’s confidence in the quality of lamb product produced by its farmer suppliers,” says a statement.

See this week’s South Ceredigion paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now