As exclusively revealed by the Irish Farmers Journal in early January, Emerí Nutrition, a Chinese infant formula company is set to open a manufacturing plant in Co Meath over the next year. Emerí Nutrition lodged a planning application with Meath Co Council in late 2017 for the development of a food grade manufacturing facility in Navan as part of a €15m investment.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that Emerí will start out producing 5,000t of infant formula per annum but the overall capacity of the Navan site will be double this. While it may seem small, producing 5,000t of infant formula is significant in the context to some of the multinationals already operating in Ireland.

Danone, for instance, produces just 20,000t of Illuma infant formula in Ireland, which is a global brand. Emerí is already an established branded player in the 800,000t infant formula market in China, although its core sales are in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities in China. These are cities in China with less-developed economies compared to the likes of Beijing and Shanghai.

Sourcing suppliers

Lu Wang, the chief executive of Emerí, spent almost seven weeks in Ireland in September/October feeling out dairy processor and co-op suppliers as well as potential locations.

The Irish dairy processors already supplying ingredients to the infant formula companies in Ireland include Arrabawn, Dairygold, Lakeland, Glanbia Ireland, LacPatrick and Kerry Group.

It will likely be 18 to 24 months before Emerí begins commercial production at the Navan site, which will employ up to 30 people. Emerí is the second Chinese infant formula company to make an investment in Ireland in recent months.

In October, the Irish Farmers Journal revealed plans by another Chinese infant nutrition company, Newbaze, to open an infant formula plant in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. The Newbaze site will also have an annual output of 5,000t of infant formula, which will be for export to China.