Fruit and vegetable auction house The Greenery is cutting 350 out of 1,645 jobs in an effort to improve its profitability.

The Greenery, owned by a cooperative of fruit and vegetable growers, said at the end of last year it was planning to reorganise.

In a statement the auction house said it had been prompted to cut its workforce because of consolidation in the European retail sector and pressure on pricing.

The auction house’s turnover fell from €1.4bn in 2012 to €1.3bn last year, leading to net profit from ordinary operations of €2m.