Arla announces £460 million global investment

And in the UK, 10 of Arla’s 12 sites will receive a share of a £72m investment for upgrades.

The UK was the co-operative’s largest market, valued at £6bn in Gross Value Added (GVA).

Lactose free

He site in Aylesbury will receive largest amount of investment (£33.6m) and will become the UK home of Arla’s Lactose free dairy products using milk from farmers in the south east and midlands, with the UK seen as a key market for lactose free products.

It will also provide facilities for new product packaging as it explores alternatives to plastic.

£5.5 million will be used to upgrade processing facilities at Arla’s Lockerbie plant in Scotland.

The remaindering £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 of Arla Foods UK, said: “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.”