PHW Group

The PHW Group is a German family business in the meat industry that operates internationally. Its core business is meat processing of poultry. It is the largest company of the poultry industry in Germany[3] and the fourth-largest in Europe.[4] The PHW Group is headquartered in Visbek-Rechterfeld in the Oldenburg Münsterland region, Germany.

Structure

The PHW Group is made up of two parent companies: the Erste Paul-Heinz Wesjohann GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft with €2,232.5 million in sales, and the Zweite Paul-Heinz Wesjohann GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft with €585.8 million in sales in the 2020/2021 financial year, both based in Rechterfeld.[5][6] Part of the PHW group are several subgroups, among them the Lohmann & Co. AG based in

Controversies

Exploitation of workers

The PHW Group was repeatedly criticized for bad working conditions. Im 2007, the ZDF broadcast the TV format Frontal21 documenting very bad working conditions and wages of Polish migrant workers.[17] In 2011, similar conditions were documented by a ARD TV-reportage.[18]

Animal abuse

Mistreatment of animals in the farms and the slaughterhouses was repeatedly criticized sharply. In 2010, the ARD broadcast a Report Mainz reportage uncovering serious animal welfare violations at a chicken breeding farm.[19] In another ARD reportage in 2011[18] and in a Stern TV reportage in 2013, further cases of animal abuse were documented.[20]

Environmental issues

The PHW Group is accused of overexploitation of groundwater resources in the vicinity of its production sites.[21] In Lohne, groundwater levels near a plant of the PHW Group were documented to have dropped by several meters since 1951.[22]

Illegal price agreements and tax evasion

In 2014, the German Federal Cartel Office imposed fines totaling approximately €338.5 million on 21 sausage producers and 33 responsible individuals. The so-called Wurstkartell (German for sausage cartel) also involved PHW Group subsidiary Wiesenhof Geflügelwurst GmbH & Co. KG based in Rietberg.[23]

In 2019, the PHW Group relocated the registered office of Lohmann & Co. AG to Vaduz in Liechtenstein. The financial services provider Ganten Trustees Ltd. serves as the representative office, which previously appeared in the Panama Papers.[24] The party Alliance 90/The Greens accused the PHW Group of tax evasion.[25]

Protests

Environmental and animal rights activists blocked sites of the PHW Group multiple times in protest. In 2013, activists cemented themselves on the access road to the slaughterhouse in Bogen, Bavaria.[26] In 2017, animal rights activists and members of citizens' initiatives blocked the slaughterhouse in Königs Wusterhausen, Brandenburg.[27] In 2021, the alliance Gemeinsam gegen die Tierindustrie blocked the company headquarters in Rechterfeld with more than hundred activists.[28][29]

industry	Meat industry
predecessor	Lohmann & Co. AG
founded	1998
founder	Paul-Heinz Wesjohann
hq location city	Visbek-Rechterfeld
hq location country	Germany
area served	Worldwide
key people	Peter Wesjohann (CEO)‡R1R‡
owner	Paul-Heinz Wesjohann and Family‡R1R‡
revenue	€2.768 billion‡R1R‡
revenue year	2021
num employees	8900‡R2R‡
website	https://phw-gruppe.de/en/

Structure

History

1932 until 1998: predecessor

1998: foundation of the PHW Group and the EW Group

1998 until now