GREELEY, Colo. -- Reeling from Japan's ban on beef imports along with five-year highs in cattle prices, Swift & Co. has announced it will eliminate one of two shifts and laying off 300 people at its beef processing plant here.

In a statement, the company said it was improving efficiency by upgrading its processing equipment and reconfiguring the plant that produces "value-added" products.

The announcement comes a little more than year after the company laid off 700 employees at the Greeley plant. All 700 were offered other positions within the company and 400 of those accepted.

"This is a tough day for workers and a tough day for the community. When there are layoffs, it hurts everybody," Dave Minshall, spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Local No. 7, told the Greeley Tribune. The layoffs will happen in April.

The Greeley-based company is one of the nation's largest meatpackers. Swift operates 10 beef, pork and lamb plants in the U.S. and also has facilities in Australia.

Japan banned American beef after the U.S. confirmed its first case of mad cow disease in December 2003. Japan had only recently reopened its market before it banned imports again over renewed fears.

In 2003 before Japan's ban, exports accounted for about 16 percent of Swift's beef production, company spokesman Sean McHugh said. Last year it was half that at 8 percent.

"For those people who have been in this business their entire lives, this is about the toughest market they've ever seen," McHugh said.

Company officials announced the impending layoffs first to the night shift on Wednesday and then to the early shift Thursday, said Fernando Rodriquez, union director of packing at the Greeley plant.

"Until we get close to April, we won't know how many people will be affected," Rodriquez said, adding that attrition could take care of some of the reductions.

The contract mandates that the least senior workers be the first to lose their jobs. Value-added products produced at the Greeley plant includes beef that has been custom sliced or seasoned, which sell for three to four times the price of boxed beef.

McHugh said the loss of Japan's $1.5 billion market for U.S. beef has driven down profitability for the entire industry. Swift competitor Tyson Foods Inc. on Wednesday announced it would layoff 1,665 workers as it closes plants in Norfolk and West Point, Neb. Swift last year cutback production at its Grand Island, Neb. plant and has also closed a facility in Idaho.

"The enhancements better position our Greeley beef facility for the eventual return of more historical market conditions, as we now have the ability to conduct balanced double shift operations -- harvesting, primary fabrication and value-added processing. Furthermore, efficiencies generated by the upgrades will uphold our standing within a historically competitive, low-margin industry," said President and CEO Sam Rovit in a news release.