Unused capacity at the Young’s Seafood site in Grimsby will be used to develop a range of added-value salmon products.

Following the recent announcement that the processor was shifting white fish production from the Marsden Road site in Grimsby to the Scottish port of Fraserburgh, Young’s reaffirmed its commitment to the Lincolnshire town by pledging to invest in the development of salmon production.

Young’s was seeing strong growth in its core salmon business, deputy CEO Pete Warde told The Grocer this week, adding the business continued to “invest to maintain the most efficient conversion of salmon and make the best use of the whole fish.”

He said the business was updating the factory layout at Grimsby to ensure it had the most efficient production flows as it invested to produce value-added salmon products. “We will be using as much of the fish as possible by adding value to the byproducts for external sale and for use in our own business,” Warde said.

Young’s last month announced it was creating a centre of excellence at Fraserburgh for white fish processing and packing as part of a multimillion pound investment in facilities north of the border.

The company said the changes would “improve focus and local ownership of issues,” but the announcement raised questions over the long-term future of Marston Road amid rumours it would lead to a possible reduction in the processor’s presence in the town.

The white fish operation in Fraserburgh is expected to become operational in October under the name Young’s Fraserborough, with Marsden Road becoming a salmon production centre of excellence, concentrating on increasing volumes to fill the gap left by the departure of whitefish, said Ward. The division in production would increase efficiency while reducing waste, said Ward, who called Marston Road a “fundamental part of our estate”.

Young’s said the restructuring was “not expected to impact employment levels at either site.”

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