Tema (Greater Accra) 6 May ?99

Pioneer Food Cannery (PFC), Tema, a subsidiary of Heinz Seafood Europe, is to become a major supplier of Heinz Tuna products to its customers worldwide.

Heinz which has seven tuna canneries world-wide, is to cut production in six of them and maximise production at the PFC which already sells 95 per cent of its products outside Ghana.

Mr Steven C. Boulton, General Manager of PFC, in an interview with newsmen, said the decision to maximise production in Ghana is due the high demand for Heinz Tuna products.

Mr Boulton said Heinz supplies go to every grocery chain in the United Kingdom and most customers specify that they want products coming from Ghana.

Between 1993 and 1998, Heinz has gradually pumped over 17.1 million dollars into the Tema factory which enables it to step up production from 40 metric tonnes to 175 metric tonnes per day.

Mr Boulton said between May, this year, and April, next year, an additional 3.5 million dollars is expected to be invested to increase production to 200 metric tonnes or 13,000 cartons per day.

This will involve the installation of some new equipment.

Mr Boulton denied rumours among workers of the company that they were entitled to some benefits under a new purchase agreement with Heinz Seafoods Europe.

He advised the workers to ignore such rumours, saying Heinz had owned PFC since 1993 and that there was no change in ownership or any plan to lay off workers that would warrant the payment of any benefits.