“We have, so far, 55 people registered to work in this area, all of them former workers at Cofaco” (the company that closed the factory in Pico in 2018), José Freitas, director of Conseran, explained to journalists, adding that, now, the company will have to look for workers outside the country.

Conseran – Conservas do Atlântico Norte, is investing around €15 million in the construction of a new factory for the processing of tuna, but also of other species such as mackerel and squid, but it is experiencing difficulties in ensuring the labour needed to work “at cruising speed”.

“The factory has the capacity to process 25 tonnes of tuna per day, plus the species that we want to gather”, justified the businessman, who also intends to “build facilities to be able to bring people from outside the country to work in this factory in a dignified way”.

The option for foreign workers has been praised by the president of the Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, who visited the site, accompanied by the other members of the executive.

The new Conseran factory, which is being built in the parish of Bandeiras, in the municipality of Madalena do Pico, should be completed in early 2023.