Campbell Soup to close Toronto plant, cut 380 jobs

CAMDEN - Campbell Soup Co. said Wednesday it plans to close a soup-making plant in Toronto, ending about 380 jobs.

The Camden firm cited excess capacity in manufacturing operations due to productivity gains and "volume declines" for canned soup.

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The shutdown is expected to have a pretax cost of $125 million to $140 million, the company said. That includes about $30 million in severance pay and benefits.

"The decision to stop producing soup and broth in Canada was a difficult one,” Campbell executive Mark Alexander said in a statement.

Campbell said the Toronto plant, built in 1931, could not be modernized "in a way that is competitively viable."

Campbell said the Toronto plant's production will move in phases over an 18-month period to newer plants in Ohio, Texas and North Carolina.

The company said it will continue to use “soup and broth recipes tailored to Canadian tastes.”

The firm also will move its Canadian headquarters and commercial operations to a new site in the Toronto area. Campbell currently employs about 600 people in Toronto.

"Despite this decision, Canada is important to Campbell," said Ana Dominguez, president of Campbell Canada.

The plant closing is part of a cost-cutting program launched by Campbell in January 2015. That effort had generated about $345 milllion in "annual ongoing cost-savings" by October 2017, the company said.

Campbell, which in January reported lower sales and earnings for its first quarter employs about 18,500 workers worldwide.

Jim Walsh: @jwalsh_cp; 856-486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com

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