Dairy giant Arla investing in Oswestry site as part of £72 million drive

The firm will invest in new, expanded and improved production capacity as well as innovative technology, which will see £72 million be spent in the UK.

More than £30 million will be split across Arla's sites in Oswestry, Melton Mowbray, Llandyrnog, Malpas, Oakthorpe, Stourton, Settle and Trevarrian.

The figure also includes non-site specific investments which will enable Arla continue to drive growth for the farmers which own it and capitalise on increasing demand for dairy.

Arla's carbon net zero site in Aylesbury will see the biggest proportion of UK spend with an investment of £33.6 million as it becomes the UK home to the production of Arla's Lactose free dairy products using milk from UK farmers.

The investment in Aylesbury will also provide new facilities for the production of new product packaging using flexible pouches.

More than £5 million will be used to upgrade processing facilities at Arla's Lockerbie plant in Scotland. The figure takes investment in Scotland in recent years to over £44 million which included the installation of an anaerobic digester to offset Lockerbie's carbon footprint.

The decision to significantly increase the investments of the company was approved at a meeting in London this week by Arla Foods' board of directors, which consists mainly of elected farmer owners.

The chairman of Arla Foods, Åke Hantoft, said all investments by Arla Foods are made to secure long-term growth and profit opportunities for the company's 11,200 farmer owners across Europe.

"Arla has a history of good investments for sustained growth. The board of directors has decided to increase our investments with this plan, because we have identified new projects and investments with short and long term potential for significant return. The business growth these investments will create for our company will generate growth opportunities for our farmer owners. We see these investments as essential to the future of our business," he said.

Tomas Pietrangeli, managing director of Arla Foods UK, added: "Arla is the biggest dairy company in the UK, owned by 11,200 farmers across Europe. This investment is almost double the investment of last year and, with the exception of building the Aylesbury dairy, it is the biggest annual investment for Arla in the UK. While milk prices remain volatile and Brexit brings both uncertainty and opportunity, Arla farmers in the UK and across Europe are committed to continually investing in our UK business to maintain pace with the demand for nature's original superfood, and the consumer choice it creates."

Fifty per per cent of the investments in 2018 are targeted projects aimed at growing Arla Foods' sales outside Europe, where the company's fastest growing strategic growth markets are Middle East and North Africa, China and Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the United States.