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West Cork dairy processor Carbery is to invest €78m in the diversification of its Ballineen processing facility. The investment will allow Carbery to move into processing new cheese offerings, primarily mozzarella.
Carbery received some €5.57m in state aid funding from the Irish Government build the new facility, following approval by the European Commission. Carbery expect construction of the project to be completed by 2020.
The West Cork processor currently produces cheddar cheese at the Ballineen site, primarily for the UK market. With 1,260 farmers supplying Carbery, who provide 500 jobs in west Cork, the investment is to diversify production and reduce dependence on the UK.
The investment by Carbery will increase processing capacity at the Ballineen plant to 4m litres of milk per day, making the site one of the largest diversified cheese manufacturing sites in Europe.
Global demand
Mozzarella cheese is a higher added-value product for which there is a growing global demand. Diversification away from cheddar cheese will allow Carbery to reach a wider range of customers in the global market.
The €5.75m in state aid will be paid in instalments between 2019 and 2021.
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