Dairy giant Arla investing £1.6 million in Oswestry site
A seven-figure investment will be made at Arla Food's Oswestry factory to keep it at the forefront of the dairy industry.
Arla will invest millions in its UK operations this year – including a seven-figure sum in Shropshire.
The farmer-owned dairy company has announced that it is to invest £37.5 million in its 13 UK sites, and its logistics operations, during 2017. That marks a 51 per cent increase on last year.
The investment will include 1.9m euros (£1.64m) to upgrade cheese slicing lines in Oswestry. The move is not expected to bring any additional jobs, however.
Arla's UK managing director Tomas Pietrangeli said: "Last year I unveiled the most ambitious UK business strategy to date to make Arla a household brand by 2020 and grow its revenue by nearly a third.
"This ambition is part of the company's global strategy for growth and will position Arla as the champion of British dairy.
"By continually investing and improving our sites, we can ensure we grow capacity, maintain high quality of our products and ultimately return the best possible price to our farmer owners."
The UK figure is part of the £285m investment Arla expects to make at its sites around the world this year.
As well as the boost to the Oswestry site, which was upgraded recently with the opening of a new cheese packing plant, millions will be invested in Arla's other UK operations.
If the company can increase the value of the products it sells, that should have a positive knock-on effect for farmers who supply to the company.
Taw Valley creamery, in Devon, will see £5m invested to increase capacity and another £5m will be spent at Stourton in Leeds on projects including a new packing facility.
Another £3.5m will be spent at Arla's fresh milk processing site in Aylesbury on new processing equipment for the company's new BOB product, which has been publicised using television advertising recently.
"With these investments we continue our relentless pursuit of the goals in our Strategy 2020," said chief executive Peter Tuborgh.
"You will see Arla take an even stronger position in the market as the innovative farmer-owned dairy company, providing great-tasting, natural dairy products that help people make good food choices.
"That is the main focus of these investments."
