Minister offers aid as FMC Rønland closure threatens 400 jobs

More than 400 employees face losing their jobs when FMC Rønland, formerly Cheminova, closes at the end of the year, DR reports. The pesticide factory on Harboøre Tange in western Jutland is Lemvig Municipality’s largest workplace.

Employment Minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen is ready to help the municipality find new jobs for the affected workers. Depending on the municipality’s application, support worth millions of kroner could be available through the government’s notice fund, which finances measures for employees facing redundancy.

“This is a very, very large group of people who need help moving on at the same time,” Halsboe-Jørgensen said.

The support could fund training, counselling and matchmaking between companies and jobseekers. The minister said the government was prepared to act because the consequences of such a large closure were disproportionately difficult for the local community to handle at once.

Three billion kroner in losses

The company has reported combined losses of three billion kroner over the past three years, while its short-term debt has grown to more than 3.5 billion kroner.

According to its latest report, the business had 423 full-year employees. It produces products used to control weeds, insects and fungi in agriculture.

The factory has been at the centre of environmental problems for more than half a century. In 2024, DR reported that polluted wastewater had been pumped into the North Sea from Cheminova.

Lemvig Mayor Jens Lønberg Pedersen of the Conservative Party described the closure as “a blow to the solar plexus” and called the day of the announcement “a black day”.

“I am not standing here with my hat in my hand, but I would like some help getting something started,” he said.

Steffen Damsgaard, chairman of the Rural Districts Joint Council, described the closure as “a local catastrophe for the area”. The organisation works to ensure that people can live and work throughout the country and that businesses can operate in all regions.

Damsgaard called for investment in rural areas, including possible defence investments or other measures that could create new jobs.

Halsboe-Jørgensen did not identify specific industries that might move to Lemvig Municipality. She said many activities were under way in the area and that many companies were seeking workers.

That would not lessen the disaster for the local community and affected families, she said, but it could make it easier for people to find new employment.