UPDATED 6.01pm  Silver Fern Farms denies that shareholders and workers were kept in the dark about a proposed closure in mid Canterbury.

Today the meat processor told staff in Ashburton it wants to close the Fairton sheep meat processing plant for good, leaving 370 workers without a job.

Last year the company gave Chinese meat processor Shanghai Maling a 50 percent holding for $267 million.

Silver Fern Farms CEO Dean Hamilton told Larry Williams at that time, they hadn't decided to shut any plants.

"People are assuming that there's pre-commitment, some hardwired decision that we gave or shared with one party but not with ourselves. That's simply not true."

LISTEN ABOVE: SILVER FERN FARMS CEO DEAN HAMILTON SPEAKS TO LARRY WILLIAMS

Mr Hamilton said a significant processing decline over the last 10 years is behind the closure.

He said higher returns from land-use conversion in Canterbury and Marlborough mean there are fewer farms, and fewer sheep to process.

A longtime employee at the Fairton Ashburton plant said he and most other workers saw the closure coming.

"Years ago we used to have three chains and kill a million and a quarter. This season we had one chain. The company was still manned up for staff for two chains and we only killed 325,000 so the writing was basically on the wall."

Canterbury secretary for the Meatworkers Union Bill Watt said workers are nervous about the future.

He said it isn't a surprise, because the Ashburton plant has been running down over the last few years.

He added the plant's capacity was grossly underused, and the closure is likely to go ahead.

The company discussed potential transfer options to its other sites in the region as part of the consultation process.

The company has not commented on speculation the meatworks could become a water bottling plant.