Kellogg’s latest US brand to close door on Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — The Kellogg Company says it’s closing operations in Venezuela at a time of widespread hunger in the crisis-wracked South American nation.

The Battle Creek, Michigan-based company said in a statement Tuesday that it was prompted to cease operations as a result of continued economic deterioration.

Kellogg’s factory in the city of Maracay employs around 550 people that produce 75 per cent of the breakfast cereals Venezuelans consume.

The company said it looks forward to resuming operations once conditions improve. The company has been producing in Venezuela since 1961 and the market had been its biggest in Latin America after Mexico.

Kellogg’s joins multinationals including Bridgestone, Kimberly-Clark and General Mills that have closed or reduced operations in Venezuela amid hyperinflation, shortages and a recession deeper than the Great Depression of the 1930s.