020814 Perdue Farms to Close W.Va. Plant

Salisbury, MD (AP) - Perdue Farms Inc. said it plans to close a plant in Petersburg, W. Va., and sell its DeLuca Foods business.

The Petersburg deboning plant, which employs about 365 workers, will cease operations after Oct. 11.

Perdue, a privately held poultry company based in Salisbury, Md., blamed the plant shutdown on continually declining prices for boneless poultry breast.

It said it will transfer boneless breast production from Petersburg to other Perdue facilities, to reduce transportation and logistics costs.

The company also said it is seeking a buyer for its DeLuca Foods operation in Middlebury, Conn. If a buyer isn't found, the company will close the plant, which it called too specialized for its other products, by the end of the year. The facility has about 74 employees.

The company said the DeLuca line wasn't profitable, and forecasts indicated continued losses for the DeLuca Foods operation, which Perdue acquired in 1998. The company said exiting the business will allow it to put more resources into other new products.

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