Universal Closes Plant in Danville, Virginia

Source from:  tobaccoreporter.com 12/14/2005

Universal Leaf North America closed its tobacco processing facility in Danville, Virginia, USA. The company is consolidating all of its U.S. processing into its Nash County, North Carolina, facility. About 325 seasonal jobs and 77 full-time positions will be affected by the closure. A number of the full-time salaried personnel will be offered jobs in the Nash County facility. The closure is expected to reduce annual costs for the consolidated group by about $10 million before taxes. W. Keith Brewer, president of Universal, said, "The decision to close the Danville facility was extremely difficult given our long history of operations there and the wrenching personnel issues involved. However, as a result of the sharp decline in domestic flue-cured and burley production since 2000, there is now processing overcapacity in the United States. Given the current crop sizes in the United States, we can accommodate all of our U.S. processing volumes in our Nash County facility." Enditem