Mars Petcare is offering land for sale in Marangai, New Zealand, which the petfood manufacturer originally purchased to build a manufacturing plant on, according to a local report.
Mars bought a 152 hectacres of land in 2003, which was intended to be the site of a US$52 million petfood manufacturing facility.
The company will instead invest US$30 million into a three-stage upgrade and expansion at its existing Castlecliff, New Zealand, manufacturing site, according to manager, Colin Fergus. The first stage of the upgrade, exterior work for a US$13.4 million building expansion, was completed in April 2011. The company also reduced some of its "casual" staff as new machinery was brought in, Fergus said. He said the company does not have any more staff cuts planned as it looks to bring in high-speed filling technology.