Mondelēz International to Close New Zealand Cadbury Plant

Mondelēz International announced its plans to shut down its Dunedin Cadbury factory and shift production to neighboring Australia, which takes most of New Zealand’s chocolate output.

Staff was consulted about plans to cut 250 jobs in the South Island town this year and another 100 in 2018, the company said in a statement.
It was cheaper to use existing capacity in Australian factories to produce chocolate, given that about 70% of the Dunedin factory’s output was shipped to Australia anyway.
“We’re focused on becoming globally cost-competitive through increased production and investment in larger sites, while reducing costs,” said Amanda Banfield, Mondelēz vice-president for Australia, New Zealand and Japan, according to Reuters.
About 130 New Zealand office staff in Cadbury’s commercial and finance operations would be unaffected. The 80-year-old factory site would continue to host the chocolate-themed tourist center “Cadbury World”.
Mondelēz’s financial report shows that the net revenues decreased 12.5% in 2016, driven by the coffee business transactions, deconsolidation of the company’s Venezuelan operations and currency headwinds. Organic Net Revenue increased 1.3%, which includes a negative impact of approximately 110 basis points from revenue management activities and India demonetization.