Denmark. Danish Crown A/S

Date of agreement:09 Dec 2013
Country:Denmark
Customer:Danish Crown A/S
Amount in DKK:DKK 340 million
Amount in EUR:EUR 45.6 million
Maturity:10 years
NACE sector / loan type:Manufacture of food products and beverages

Project

The loan has been provided for the construction of a cattle slaughterhouse in Holsted, Denmark. The investment cost of the slaughterhouse is DKK 680 million, and its commissioning is scheduled in December 2013 and full operations by the summer 2014. With 4,500 cattle slaughtered per week, the Holsted slaughterhouse will be among the three largest in Europe. When fully running, the capacity of the new slaughterhouse will add around 7% to the company’s output and comprise around 50% of the national cattle slaughtering. The slaughterhouse will also produce minced meat and other meat products. The new facility will replace two slaughterhouses and two deboning facilities. It will help optimise production, improve efficiency and cut operational costs for the Beef division of Danish Crown. A large part of the cost reductions will be ensured by more efficient use of energy and water.

Danish Crown is world’s second largest abattoir and Europe’s largest meat processing company. The company is a cooperative owned by around 9,000 Danish pig and beef farmers. Meat currently enjoys the highest growth rates of consumption among agricultural products. In developed countries consumption is stable, while consumption in developing countries is growing fast due to rising living standards.

Fulfilment of NIB's mandate

Competitiveness: More efficient use of production resources implies cost savings and higher productivity. New production systems and equipment will also increase the potential in processing by-products, which might expand and add value to product offerings.

Environment: The project is expected to generate energy and water savings by about 30% of what is currently used by the four facilities the new slaughterhouse aims to replace. The new slaughterhouse will use the best available techniques as defined by EU BREF documents for the sector. Energy savings will come from a multitude of measures, but the most important is the heat recovery installations for all main energy using sections of the facilities like cooling areas and water heating. Additional measures include an optimised facility layout for the process flow and energy efficient shell construction of the building itself. The facility will be equipped with a pre-treatment for the wastewater from the production zones. All the biological waste from the facility is transported to an offsite biogas reactor to be converted into biogas. The total savings on a yearly basis for the project is calculated to 6,000 MWh. The corresponding reduction in CO2 emissions is around 1,800 tonnes a year. Reduction in water usage is also a positive contributing factor for this project.

Sustainability summary

The Holsted slaughterhouse is designed and will be operated using the best available techniques. Slaughterhouses use large quantities of water for washing meat and cleaning processing areas. Effluent produced during the slaughtering process may generate pollution problems due to the high content of animal fat, waste, blood and any cleaning detergents. The effluent from the Holsted slaughterhouse will be pre-treated in an on-site wastewater treatment facility, after which the remaining wastewater load will be discharged to the municipal wastewater treatment plant.

A natural gas-fired boiler will heat the facilities and water used in the production processes. The noise level, both internal, from machines or refrigeration units, and external, from animals, may constitute a local nuisance. The move into one efficient facility will enable energy conservation measures resulting in a reduction in the absolute energy use.

For the upstream supply of cattle, Danish Crown applies a code of practice issued by Danish Crown to farmers. These rules include a number of requirements on food safety, meat quality, feed and ethics and animal welfare.

Press release
20.12.2013

NIB finances Danish Crown’s investment in slaughterhouse

Press release

NIB finansierer Danish Crowns investering i slagteri