Arla Foods to invest €210 million in English dairy
Farmer-owned Arla Foods, one of the world’s leading mozzarella producers, has announced its largest ever investment – €210 million – into the UK with highly advanced production technology at the Taw Valley dairy in south-western England. With the new production capabilities, Arla Foods will be even better placed to meet increasingly specific demands from key customers and keep pace in the fast-moving space of global mozzarella.
“Our mozzarella business has seen double-digit growth over the past five years and we have strong relationships with key customers, particularly in global foodservice, and it’s from that very solid starting point we are announcing the investment,” says Executive Vice President and COO, Peter Giørtz-Carlsen. “But we also know that we have to work hard to maintain that position amongst the global leaders in the category and deliver on our strategy. This investment allows us to stay among the leaders within mozzarella, serve our customers even better and at the same time improve profitability for our farmer owners’ milk”.
Innovation meets production excellence in perfect match
The investment in new technology allows for better flexibility and innovation opportunities to meet demands from customers, who need their mozzarella to brown, melt or stretch in a certain way. The technology includes several patents and brings down the maturing process from 14 days to just one.
“With this investment, Taw Valley will become a state-of-the-art cheese production site and combined with our strong channel understanding in the global mozzarella category, we are strengthening further our business,” says Executive Vice President and Head of Supply Chain, David Boulanger.
The high-quality cheese produced at Taw Valley will add in-demand volumes to Arla Foods’ current mozzarella production and the majority of it will be exported to global foodservice customers around the world underlining the dairy co-operatives role as a key global player in the category.
“This is a prime example of how we at Arla Foods constantly innovate in our process capabilities, improve our efficiency and drive product superiority in order to deliver our strategic ambitions, create growth and ultimately secure value for our farmer owners,” David Boulanger explains.
Construction is expected to be finalised in 2026 with the first products from the new facility ready the following year. The investment will have no impact on Arla Foods’ two other mozzarella production sites in Denmark.
Arla Foods is an international dairy company owned by 8,000 farmers from Denmark, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Arla Foods is one of the leading players in the international dairy arena with well-known brands like Arla®, Lurpak®, Puck® and Castello®. Arla Foods is focused on providing good dairy nourishment from sustainable farming and operations and is also the world’s largest manufacturer of organic dairy products.
