Arla Foods UK will plough a further £37.5m in its UK operations this year as it continues its efforts to add value back into milk.
The UK investment is part of a wider £285 million (€335m) investment in Arla’s global business to support its 2020 strategy of “moving more milk from bulk into branded, own label and foodservice sales”, the co-op said.
It is the highest single-year supply chain investment in the company’s history, and represents a 50% increase from its spend last year.
The £37.5m will be spread across the company’s thirteen UK production, packing and distribution sites, as well its logistics operations.
It will include £5m of spend on latest technologies for its hard cheese production Taw Valley creamery in Devon and £5m for a new packaging facility to increase production of own-label flavoured milk at Stourton dairy, in Leeds.
Arla will also spend £3.5m at its Aylesbury fresh milk processing site to boost production of Arla Best of Booth, and £3m on its Westbury operation in Wiltshire to ensure its production of Anchor butter is not disrupted by essential maintenance.
“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,” said Tomas Pietrangeli, Arla Food UK MD.
“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 global investment will focus on upgrading production facilities in core markets such as Germany, Denmark and Sweden, as well as sites supplying Arla’s emerging markets outside the EU.
“With these investments we continue our relentless pursuit of the goals in our Strategy 2020 to move more milk from bulk into brands and improve the profitability for our farmer-owners,” said Arla CEO Peder Tuborgh.
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