Farmer-owned dairy cooperative Arla is to invest £72 million in the UK this year, as ten sites across the country will receive investment for upgrades.
The dairy giant has announced plans to invest almost half a billion pounds worldwide this year, as the company pledges to deliver on its 2020 growth ambition.
Arla Foods, in a meeting in London this week, says it will invest in "new, expanded and improved" production capacity as well as "innovative technology".
Now operating in 120 countries worldwide, the focus will now be investment in meeting the growing demand for dairy, and specifically, in UK dairy investment.
In total, ten of its twelve sites across the UK will receive investment for upgrades.
As Arla’s biggest single market, the company’s economic footprint in the UK is valued at more than £6 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA), equivalent to 0.52% of the entire business economy and 0.33% of UK GDP.
UK sites
Arla’s 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 in the south east and the midlands.
It will also explore alternatives to plastic, already committing to using 100% recyclable plastic by 2020 and 50% recycled plastic in its plastic milk bottles.
£5.5 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.
The remaining £32.5 million will be split across Arla’s sites in Melton Mowbray, Llandyrnog, Malpas, Oakthorpe, Stourton, Settle, Oswestry and Trevarrian.
Tomas Pietrangeli, Managing Director, Arla Foods UK, said the investment is almost double last years.
“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,” Mr Pietrangeli explained.
