Glanbia has announced that it has entered a strategic partnership with Royal A-ware, a leading global cheese and dairy producer in The Netherlands.
The partnership between the two dairy groups will see a new continental cheese manufacturing facility in Belview, Co Kilkenny, Ireland.
It will be located at a greenfield site near Glanbia’s infant nutrition plant.
€140 million will be invested in the new facility, due to be completed in 2022. It will have a production capacity of 450 million litres of milk per annum.
Approximately 80 full-time jobs will be created at the facility, and a further 100 temporary jobs will be created during the construction phase.
Enhanced Portfolio
“This new partnership will create a new route to market for Glanbia Ireland suppliers’ milk and diversify our portfolio of consumer dairy products and ingredients,” Jim Bergin, chief executive of Glanbia Ireland, said.
“Since 2014 we have invested €343 million to facilitate a 42% increase in milk production by Glanbia farmers. This proposed new investment is now required to diversify our product mix and to ensure that our suppliers have the opportunity to fulfil their growth ambitions.”
Jan Anker, chief executive of Royal A-Ware Group, said that the group is proud to announce this partnership with Glanbia.
“With this announcement, Royal A-ware is taking another step towards achieving its goals of working with strategic partners to build innovative and sustainable agri-food chains and offering its customers an enhanced product portfolio,” he said.
“It also gives our company access to additional volumes of high-quality cheese through a local supply chain.”
The move was welcomed by Ireland’s Business Minister, Heather Humphreys, and Agriculture Minister, Michael Creed, who were pleased to see the introduction of new regional jobs in the dairy industry in the wake of Brexit.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
