Ornua opens €20m Cheese facility in Saudi Arabia
Ornua has opened a €20m Cheese Manufacturing Facility in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.
New technology developed by Ornua and Teagasc, the food development authority, will be implemented at the facility in order to create a range of white cheeses.
The €20m facility will manufacture white cheeses for the Saudi Arabian market, the fifth largest dairy importer in the world.
Ornua said the new plant will provide a base from which to export to other fast-growing regions in the Middle East and Africa.
“We now have a manufacturing and trading hub in place to service the high growth dairy market of Saudi Arabia and our growing MENA customer base. The ability to innovate and adapt to market needs is key to developing opportunities for Irish dairy,” Ornua’s CEO Kevin Lane said.
Due to its climate and scarcity of water, Saudi Arabia is a large net importer of milk and other dairy produce, buying in 400,000 tonnes of dairy produce per year. Dairy sales are growing by 6-8% a year and the cheese market is valued at over €1 billion a year.
Teagasc head of food research Mark Fenelon said: “The technology underpinning this venture was developed at the Teagasc food research centre, Moorepark and was adapted and managed by Ornua as part of a highly integrated collaborative research program to develop the current suite of local.
