A DEAL has been struck by Bury food giant Cranswick with one of Spain's leading pork producers.

The Roach Bank Road outfit will be working exclusively with the Costa Food Group as it tackles the UK market.

One-third of the nation's continental meats market is now estimated to cover Spanish charcuterie and Costa has links with more than 600 Iberian farms and has four feed factories.

Cranswick's £28M Bury plant, opened two years ago, will be a key factor in the new arrangement.

Norman Smith, the firm's sales director, said: "We believe we have a market leading farm to fork solution from both a traceability and an efficiency point of view."

Josep Buixeda, Costa's chief executive, added: "Cranswick is a business that is very much aligned to Costa Group."