Cranswick has announced a further £56 million investment in its Eye poultry processing facility in Suffolk.
The major expansion will increase processing capacity at the site by a further 25% by summer 2027, with the company confirming that, once complete, the Eye plant will be able to process almost double the number of birds originally planned when the facility opened in 2019.
The announcement came as part of Cranswick’s FY26 preliminary results, which showed poultry revenues up 13.9%, making poultry one of the strongest-performing divisions in the group and accounting for more than 20% of total company sales.
The investment builds on an existing programme of expansion at Eye. A separate £13 million project to lift throughput is already underway, while Cranswick has also completed a £7 million expansion of incubator capacity at Kenninghall to support the increase in bird numbers entering the supply chain.
For poultry producers, the move sends a strong signal that processors are preparing for sustained growth in domestic demand, but also responding to mounting supply pressures.
In its results statement, Cranswick highlighted the impact of the sector’s transition to higher-welfare, lower stocking density production systems, which it says has constrained British chicken supply across the industry.
Chairman Tim Smith warned that if domestic production does not keep pace with consumer demand, the UK risks becoming increasingly dependent on imports. “If domestic supply does not keep pace with growth in consumer demand, the UK will become increasingly reliant on imported food,” the company said, citing concerns over food security and quality standards.
Cranswick said it has now transitioned its own poultry rearing operations to the new lower-density standards and continues to invest heavily across farming, hatchery and processing infrastructure to support long-term supply resilience.