Irish Dairy Board to establish new cheese manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia

The Irish Dairy Board (IDB) dairy co-operative is set to establish a new cheese manufacturing facility at local dairy firm Al Wazeen Trading’s site in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

As part of the €20m project, the co-operative will also acquire a majority stake of 75% in Al Wazeen.

The investment is a key part of IDB’s strategy to expand routes to market and add value for Irish dairy produce in readiness of the abolition of milk quotas in 2015.

It will allow IDB to further diversify its presence in the Saudi Arabian market, which will become a central hub for the co-operative, allowing it to tap the crucial dairy growth markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The new facility will use dairy ingredients to produce a wide range of fresh white cheeses, which are reportedly popular in the Middle East.

It will incorporate a technology developed by IDB and Teagasc to manufacture the cheeses as well as serve as an innovation hub for the R&D of ‘white cheese’ technologies.

The pioneering technology allows milk protein ingredients to be recombined for fresh white cheese production.

Products manufactured at the plant will initially be supplied for the domestic markets and later expand to the Islamic Halal market segment.

IDB CEO Kevin Lane said that today’s announcement represents a major route to market and value for Irish dairy in the post quota environment.

"This investment is strategically very important as it allows us to expand our business throughout the MENA region," Lane added.

Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine Simon Coveney said, "Developing new routes to market, in particular the emerging markets, is a crucial component of our strategy under Food Harvest 2020 and today’s announcement represents just that."

"The IDB’s investment in Saudi Arabia opens up considerable market opportunities for the additional milk we are expecting post 2015," he added.

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Image: The facility will produce a wide range of white cheeses. Photo courtesy of Suat Eman.