The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Nestlé to close factory in Germany, sell another

Nestlé closes one factory and wants to sell another in Germany
Nestlé plans to close one factory and sell another in Germany. Keystone-SDA

Nestlé plans to close its factory in Germany at Neuss, near Düsseldorf, by mid-2026. The Swiss food giant also plans to sell its Conow plant, near the Polish border, early next year.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

The 145 employees at the Neuss site, which produces Thomy oil as well as mayonnaise and mustard in glass jars and tubes, were informed on Thursday, according to a press release from Nestlé’s German subsidiary.

The company justifies its decision by “increased consumer sensitivity to prices and rising costs, which in recent years have led to a fall in volumes and overcapacity” at the North Rhine-Westphalia site.

More

Part of the production, in particular mustard and mayonnaise tubes, will be transferred to the Lüdinghausen site, south of Münster and more than a hundred kilometres from Neuss. Nestlé plans to invest €13 million (CHF12.4 million) to modernise the site, including the creation of a new production line. Thirty additional jobs will be offered to workers in Neuss.

Nestlé’s aim is to “increase the competitiveness of food factories in Germany and take advantage of synergies at European level”. Other production, in particular products sold in glass, will be relocated elsewhere in Europe.

The Nahrung-Genuss-Gaststätten (NGG) union of food and catering workers criticised Nestlé’s announcements on its website, “even though its sales have increased in Germany”.

More

“The aim of the closure is to further increase profitability, and therefore to make profits at the expense of employees,” according to the union boss Guido Zeitler. He asked management to refrain from implementing “this radical measure”.

In a separate document, the multinational says it plans to sell the Conow plant in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at the beginning of 2026, which employs 80 people. A German company is said to be interested in the site. Production of the tuna alternative Garden Gourmet Vuna, Maggi liquid broths and Maggi Texicana Salsa is to be transferred to other European sites.

Nestlé currently has 17 sites in Germany, employing more than 6,000 people.

Translated from French with DeepL/sb

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Only one in five people attend a religious service at Easter

More

Just one in five Swiss attend a religious service at Easter

This content was published on Only one in five people in Switzerland attend a religious service during the Easter period or give up meat or alcohol for at least one day of fasting. Around 25% of those polled see Easter primarily as a family holiday, according to the survey.

Read more: Just one in five Swiss attend a religious service at Easter
Posters condemning Stephan Schmidheiny's role in asbestos deaths in Italy.

More

Swiss businessman gets prison term for asbestos deaths

This content was published on Stephan Schmidheiny has been sentenced to 9 years and 6 months in prison by the Turin Court of Appeal in a case against the former Eternit executive over deaths linked to asbestos exposure in Italy.

Read more: Swiss businessman gets prison term for asbestos deaths
Swiss foreign trade booms in the first quarter

More

Swiss foreign trade booms in the first quarter

This content was published on Swiss imports and exports reached new heights in the first quarter, driven by the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors. Shipments to the US rose sharply.

Read more: Swiss foreign trade booms in the first quarter

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR