Smarties production moves to Germany

13 April 2012

Smarties are joining the ever-growing list of iconic British products which will no longer be made in this country.

Nearly 70 years after the first Smartie was made in York, it has been announced that the children's favourite will in future be made in Germany.

From next year, every one of the 16,000 Smarties eaten every minute in this country will have been made in the city of Hamburg.

It is a decision which will shock Smarties' fans who are still recovering from the change to the packaging last year.

The decision to replace the cyclindrical design with a new six-sided pack caused uproar among Smarties' fans.

It was described at the time as 'a disaster', 'an outrage' and the 'worst catastrophe to befall modern man,' particularly the loss of the lid with a letter of the alphabet printed underneath.

Empty Smarties tubes were an indispensible tube for generations of children who used them to build anything from castles to space rockets. Others are still recovering from the recent axeing of the blue Smartie when the firm decided to remove all artificial colours from the product.

But in a blow to the city of York, its Swiss owner Nestle said it is moving production to Hamburg, which already makes about a third of all Smarties.

About 645 workers at the York factory, which currently employs about 2,445 people, will lose their jobs as a result of the change. It is the second major employer to axe jobs in the city in less than a week after Norwich Union announced plans last Thursday to cut 450 jobs.

At present, the York factory, which used to be owned by Rowntree, makes 10 Nestle products including Kit Kat, Yorkie and Aero. Two other products are being moved overseas, as well as Smarties - Black Magic is going to the Czech Republic and Dairy Box is going to Spain.

The GMB union said it was 'a bleak day for York' and promised to 'fight' the job losses, which are equal to 25 per cent of the factory's workforce. City of York Council said it was 'saddened' by the announcement.

Another recent great British brand to leave this country is HP Sauce which has moved from Birmingham to Holland.

Nestle, one of the world's biggest food companies which makes everything from Nescafe to Polo, blames the decision on the state of the plant. The factory was opened in 1890 by Rowntree's, the Quaker food firm bought by Nestle in 1988, and parts are more than 116 years old.

It wants to build a 'state-of-the-art' manufacturing site which will still produce Kit Kat, Yorkie, Milky Bar, Aero and Polo and employ 1,800 people.

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