Irish agricultural and dairy cooperative Aurivo has announced that it plans to invest €48 million to develop its processing facilities, in order to achieve a 2022 goal for milk production of 500 million litres.
The €48 million investment is a significant commitment for Aurivo as it represents a tenth of the company's turnover in 2017.
Reaching the 500-million-litre mark has been identified as an ambitious goal, as it necessitates increasing the amount of processed milk by a quarter, with 420 million litres processed in 2017.
The company says that a €26 million investment has already been earmarked for the installation of a new dryer for its Ballaghaderreen site. Once completed, capacity at the Aurivo Dairy Ingredients facility will increase by 50% and will produce over 50,000 tonnes of milk powders and 15,000 tonnes of butter annually.
Enhanced Facilities
Commenting on the announcement, Aaron Forde, CEO of Aurivo said, "With our enhanced facilities, Aurivo will compete strongly in serving our existing customers and will also enable us to access new international markets. This is all about working to achieve our vision to outperform our peers by becoming leaders in our chosen markets, regionally nationally and internationally.
“One of our key strategic targets is to grow by 25% from a 400-million-litre milk business to a 500-million one by 2022. That is well within our grasp and our organic growth plans for the business."
This investment will be supported in part by the Irish government's Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation through Enterprise Ireland.
It's also a vote of confidence in the growth of milk market at the European and International level, as Forde discussed the weight of Brexit and the uncertainties surrounding the departure of the UK from the EU, commenting at the time on the FY2017 results and the outlook for Aurivo "While milk supply growth continues in 2018, the current year will be one with significant volatility. Brexit is an uncertainty for our business and the wider sector."
"We continually monitor the situation and continue to put in place plans through our Brexit team to ensure we are as ready as possible for the inevitable fallout from the UK’s exit of the EU," said Forde. "Ultimately, the sector needs the government to get the best-possible deal for Irish food and agribusiness."
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Matthieu Chassain. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine
