ADM closes Glassboro plant, cuts 53, moves to Hazleton

Archer Daniels Midland Inc. Co., Decatur, Ill., says it's closing its Glassboro cocoa-processing plant and ending jobs for 53 workers there. The work is moving to ADM's new 500,000 square foot cocoa plant in Hazleton, Pa., north of Reading, which opened last fall, says spokesman Roman Blahoski. He told me some, but not all, of the Glassboro workers, represented by UFCW Local 152, will be transferring up to Hazleton.  "We don't know yet" how many.

ADM built new plants in Hazelton and in Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa, over the past two years. The Hazleton plant, which employs 400, turns cocoa into chocolates and into chocolate powder and cocoa butter used by other foodmakers. ADM has no plans to close its other U.S. cocoa plants, Blahoski says.