{{Short description|German company in the meat industry}} {{Infobox company | name = PHW Group | logo = Logo-PHW.png | type = | industry = Meat industry | fate = | predecessor = Lohmann & Co. AG | successor = | founded = {{Start date and age|1998}} | founder = Paul-Heinz Wesjohann | defunct = | hq_location_city = Visbek-Rechterfeld | hq_location_country = Germany | area_served = Worldwide | key_people = Peter Wesjohann {{small|(CEO)}}<ref name="about">{{cite web |url=http://www.phw-gruppe.de/unternehmen/ueber-uns/ |title=PHW Unternehmen - Über uns |website=PHW Group |language=de |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref> | products = | owner = Paul-Heinz Wesjohann and Family<ref name="about" /> | revenue = €2.768 billion<ref name="about" /> | revenue_year = 2021 | num_employees = 8900<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.phw-gruppe.de/unternehmen/mitarbeiter/ |title=PHW Unternehmen - Mitarbeiter |website=PHW Group |language=de |access-date=2022-12-11 |archive-date=2023-05-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510123557/https://www.phw-gruppe.de/unternehmen/mitarbeiter/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> | num_employees_year = | parent = | website = {{URL|https://phw-gruppe.de/en/}} }}
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<ref>{{cite web |url=https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/165668/umfrage/groesste-anbieter-von-gefluegel-in-deutschland-seit-2008/ |title=Umsatz der führenden Unternehmen in der Geflügelwirtschaft in Deutschland in den Jahren 2018 und 2019 |website=Statista |language=de |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref> and the fourth-largest in Europe.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.poultryinternational-digital.com/poultryinternational/202002/ |title=Top 11 European poultry producers |website=Watt Poultry |publication-date=2020-02-01 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref> 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.<ref name="fiscalphw1">Consolidated financial statement for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2020 and ending on June 30, 2021 of Erste Paul-Heinz Wesjohann GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Rechterfeld. Published in Bundesanzeiger on July 14, 2022.</ref><ref name="fiscalphw2">Consolidated financial statement for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2020 and ending on June 30, 2021 of Zweite Paul-Heinz Wesjohann GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Rechterfeld. Published in Bundesanzeiger on July 28, 2022.</ref> Part of the PHW group are several subgroups, among them the ''Lohmann & Co. AG'' based in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, which the PHW Group uses for public appearances.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.phw-gruppe.de/impressum/ |title=Impressum |website=PHW Group |language=de |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref>
thumb|Site of the subsidiary company ''MEGA Tierernährung''. The core business area of the PHW Group is poultry production under the brand ''Wiesenhof''. The PHW Group features a strong vertical integration and combines large parts of the poultry production chain. These include hatcheries, fattening, the production of feed and veterinary medicine, logistics, the slaughtering and cutting of poultry, and the processing and marketing of poultry meat. Chickens are the main products processed, along with turkeys and ducks. The PHW Group also owns just under 50 percent of the shares of the WIMEX Group, one of the world's largest suppliers of day old chicks of the ''Cobb'' breed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Geflügelmast: So leiden die Hühnereltern |last=Kwasniewski |first=Nicolai |website=spiegel.de |date=2017-03-28 |access-date=2023-02-03 |url= https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/gefluegelmast-so-leiden-die-huehnereltern-a-1140175.html |language=de}}</ref>
Additionally, the company has a business sector ''alternative proteins'', which in the fiscal year 2020/2021 made up €16.8 million (0,6% of the total revenue).<ref name="fiscalphw1" /><ref name="fiscalphw2" />
==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.<ref>''Schuften für drei bis vier Euro - Ausbeutung in Fleischfabriken'' (in German). In: ZDF ''Frontal21'', July 3, 2007.</ref> In 2011, similar conditions were documented by a ARD TV-reportage.<ref name="systemwiesenhof">{{cite web |url=https://www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/dokus/videos/ard-exclusiv-das-system-wiesenhof-102.html |title=ARD-exclusiv: Das System Wiesenhof |website=ARD |language=de |date=2011-08-31 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref>
===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.<ref>''Tierquälerei bei Wiesenhof? Wie Hühner leiden müssen'' (in German). In: ARD ''Report Mainz'', January 11, 2010.</ref> In another ARD reportage in 2011<ref name="systemwiesenhof" /> and in a Stern TV reportage in 2013, further cases of animal abuse were documented.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/news/tierquaelerei-bei-wiesenhof-maester-huehnchen-landen-lebendig-im-muell-3902642.html |title=Tierquälerei bei Wiesenhof-Mäster: Hühnchen landen lebendig im Müll |website=Stern |language=de |date=2013-09-04 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref>
===Environmental issues=== The PHW Group is accused of overexploitation of groundwater resources in the vicinity of its production sites.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kreiszeitung.de/lokales/oldenburg/angst-elefanten-1194943.html |title=Die Angst vor dem Elefanten |website=Kreiszeitung |language=de |date=2011-04-08 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref> In Lohne, groundwater levels near a plant of the PHW Group were documented to have dropped by several meters since 1951.<ref>Linda Braunschweig: ''Naturschutzbund klagt gegen Kreis Vechta'' (in German). In: Oldenburgische Volkszeitung. August 28, 2012.</ref>
===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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dw.com/en/german-sausage-makers-fined-for-price-collusion/a-17787417 |title=Sausage makers fined |website=Deutsche Welle |language=en |date=2014-07-15 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bauernstimme.de/news/details/mit-wiesenhof-ins-paradise |title=Mit Wiesenhof ins "Paradise" |website=bauernstimme.de |language=de |date=2020-02-08 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref> The party Alliance 90/The Greens accused the PHW Group of tax evasion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nwzonline.de/plus/hannover-visbek-wiesenhof-mutterkonzern-in-der-kritik-begeht-die-phw-gruppe-steuerflucht_a_50,7,932067409.html |title=Wiesenhof-Mutterkonzern in der Kritik: Begeht die PHW-Gruppe Steuerflucht? |website=Nordwest-Zeitung |language=de |date=2020-02-07 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref>
===Protests=== thumb|Protest at the headquarters of the PHW Group in Rechterfeld in 2021. 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.regensburg-digital.de/blockade-am-grosten-schlachthof-suddeutschlands/11032013/ |title="Mastanlagen Widerstand": Blockade am größten Schlachthof Süddeutschlands |website=Regensburg Digital |language=de |date=2013-03-11 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref> In 2017, animal rights activists and members of citizens' initiatives blocked the slaughterhouse in Königs Wusterhausen, Brandenburg.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.maz-online.de/Lokales/Teltow-Flaeming/Tierschuetzer-blockieren-Huehner-Schlachthof |title=Tierschützer blockieren Hühner-Schlachthof |website=Märkische Allgemeine |language=de |date=2017-03-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531043340/https://www.maz-online.de/Lokales/Teltow-Flaeming/Tierschuetzer-blockieren-Huehner-Schlachthof |archive-date=2020-05-31 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref> In 2021, the alliance ''Gemeinsam gegen die Tierindustrie'' blocked the company headquarters in Rechterfeld with more than hundred activists.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/oldenburg_ostfriesland/Protest-bei-Gefluegelproduzent-Polizei-loest-Blockade-auf,goldenstedt240.html |title=Protest bei Geflügelproduzent: Polizei löst Blockade auf |website=Norddeutscher Rundfunk |language=de |date=2021-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211220191537/https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/oldenburg_ostfriesland/Protest-bei-Gefluegelproduzent-Polizei-loest-Blockade-auf,goldenstedt240.html |archive-date=2021-12-20 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/agrar-paul-wesjohann-strasse-visbek-polizei-loest-sitzblockade-vor-wiesenhof-zentrale-auf-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-210715-99-396690 |title=Polizei löst Sitzblockade vor Wiesenhof-Zentrale auf |website=Süddeutsche Zeitung |language=de |date=2021-07-15 |access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|PHW Group}} *{{Official website|https://www.phw-gruppe.de/}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Meat companies of Germany Category:Poultry companies Category:Animal food manufacturers Category:Companies based in Lower Saxony Category:Food and drink companies established in 1998 Category:Family-owned companies of Germany Category:German companies established in 1998 Category:Vechta (district)