News

September 30, 2008

Cranswick’s Range Of Products From Bacon To Budgie Seed Gives It Strong Defensive Qualities in Difficult Times

By Charles Wyatt

AIM listed Cranswick does not operate on anything like the scale of Agfeed , which we wrote about a couple of weeks ago, as China accounts for more than 50 per cent of the world's annual pig production as well as being the world's largest and most profitable pork consumer market. More than 1.2 billion Chinese consume pork as their primary source of meat and it is estimated that 65 per cent of all meat consumed in China is pork. The figures from Cranswick are minute in comparison, but it is interesting that both companies are involved in pig feed as well as pigs as that was the foundation of the business when Cranswick was formed by Yorkshire farmers in the 1970s.

In 1988 Cranswick embarked on a strategy to broaden its base into related areas offering greater scope to add value to its processes. Activities have since been extended from this agricultural base and it now operates in three core, yet related markets. The first move in this direction was the purchase of a small pork butchery which enabled the company to extend its operations from pig rearing and pig feed production into the processing of pork cuts for the United Kingdom's wholesale and...