Soon after Lamb Weston shut down production at its potato processing plant in Connell, Washington last week, resulting in the termination of 379 or more workers, McCain Foods issued an invitation for the laid off personnel to seek employment at its frozen french fry factory in Othello. The McCain facility is situated approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Connell, which is about a 30-minute drive by automobile.
According to the ConnellWA.com website, the Lamb Weston plant in Connell (pictured above) was formerly running approximately 300 days a year processing about 1,100 tons of potatoes a day, supplied by 25 growers from the Columbia Basin and surrounding areas. It specialized in producing 30 different cut styles and 150 products including lattice chips, crinkle cut fries, diced potatoes and natural fries
“We have heard the news of the recent Lamb Weston closures in Washington state – including the processing facility in Connell and the hash brown line in Warden. We know this is a difficult time for all impacted individuals,” said Jeff Naegle, plant manager at McCain’s Othello site.
The permanent closure of Eagle, Idaho, USA-headquartered Lamb Weston’s Connell factory and reduction of output at other plants in North America was announced with the release of Q1 Fiscal 2025 results, which recorded net sales dipping 1% to $1,654 million compared with the same period the year before. Income from net operations fell 34% to $212 million, while net income declined 46% to $127 million.
“Restaurant traffic and frozen potato demand, relative to supply, continue to be soft, and we believe it will remain soft through the remainder of fiscal 2025,” said Lamb Weston President and CEO Tom Werner. “To drive operational and cost efficiencies, we are taking actions that include the permanent closure of an older, higher-cost processing facility and the temporary curtailment of certain production lines and schedules in our manufacturing network. Together, we expect these actions will help us better manage our factory utilization rates and ease some of the current supply-demand imbalance in North America. We are also taking actions to reduce operating expenses, including reducing headcount and eliminating certain unfilled job positions, as well as reducing capital expenditures. The combined estimated savings from these actions are reflected in our updated fiscal 2025 targets.”
Net sales for the international company’s North America segment, which includes all sales to customers in the USA, Canada and Mexico, fell by $31.7 million to $1,103.7 million, down 3% versus the prior year quarter. Volume declined 4%, largely reflecting the impact of customer share losses and declining restaurant traffic in the United States.
International Summary
Net sales for the International segment, which includes all sales to customers outside of North America, increased $20.5 million to $550.4 million, up 4% versus the prior year quarter. Volume declined 1%, due to the carryover effect of the company’s decision in 2024 to exit certain lower-priced and lower-margin business in Europe to strategically manage customer and product mix, as well as the impact of the voluntary product withdrawal.
The volume decline was partially offset by growth in key international markets outside of Europe. Price/mix increased 5%, reflecting pricing actions announced this fiscal year to counter input cost inflation.
