Unilever opens new ice cream manufacturing facility in Turkey

British-Dutch multinational company Unilever has opened a new ice cream manufacturing facility in Konya, Turkey, following an investment of more than €95m.

The new facility, which is Unilever’s 35th ice cream facility globally, is part of the company’s efforts to accelerate sustainable growth in Turkey, the Middle East and Africa.

The Konya plant will produce leading brands such as Cornetto, Max and Twister and currently has annual production capacity of 80 million litres, with the option to expand to 200 million litres

It will manufacture ice creams for the domestic market as well as for export to the Middle East and North Africa, and will initially employ about 300 people.

The Konya plant, which aims to be the first Unilever ice cream facility in the world with LEED certification, reuses rain and surface water, recovers heat, and is zero-non-hazardous-waste-to-landfill by design.

It will be the model for all future Heartbrand factories across the world, the company said.

Unilever chief supply chain officer Pier Luigi Sigismondi said that Turkey is an important growth market for Unilever.

"Today, Konya has become our eighth manufacturing site in the country, as we continue to invest in growing our Turkish and regional business," Sigismondi added.

Unilever stated that it selected Konya as the location for the facility for a number of reasons, such as access to raw materials, good infrastructure and logistics, the availability of qualified workers and lower earthquake risks, as well as the good support of Konya’s local administration.

The company said that the Konya facility has significant scope for expansion due to increasing domestic consumption and the opportunities to grow exports.

Unilever, which entered the Turkish ice cream market in 1990, currently holds market share of more than 70%.

In July, the company entered into an agreement with AarhusKarlshamn (AAK), a Swedish-Danish producer of speciality vegetable oils and fats, to sell its Unipro bakery and industrial oils business in Turkey for an undisclosed amount.

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Image: The Konya plant will produce leading brands such as Cornetto, Max and Twister. Photo courtesy of Unilever PLC.