€150m in additional exports arising from Danone investment

UP to €150 million in additional exports will result from the €50m investment at Danone’s baby milk formula plant in Macroom, Co Cork, when the new plant is commissioned in February 2012.

On top of that, it will result in a trebling of raw material spend to €65m over the next three years, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe said yesterday.

The investment announced just before Christmas means that the number of babies in the world being fed on Irish milk formula will rise from the current ratio of one in seven to one in five, the minister said.

Currently, one-in-seven babies across the world are fed on Irish-produced infant milk formula.

“That will rise to one-in-five after the new Danone investment in Macroom, which is supported by the Government through Enterprise Ireland, begins commercial operations in the first half of 2012,” he said.

Danone’s investment will create more than 40 new jobs in a major expansion of its processing facility in Macroom, while a further 200 jobs will be created during the construction phase of the expansion which is set to begin in February, the minister said in a statement yesterday.

The new jobs in Macroom will be in food science, engineering and supply chain management.

When completed, the Macroom plant will be the largest and most technologically advanced manufacturing centre in Danone Baby Nutrition’s global network.

A new drying line at the factory will treble annual capacity to around 100,000 tonnes and 98% of the output from Macroom will be exported and commercialised in 60 countries.

Local workers and management had worked hard to help make Danone a leading global baby nutrition manufacturer, he said.

“The group’s global reach is staggering and the new research and development activity in Macroom shows that we have the local talent pool and workforce skills to drive fresh levels of innovation for a world food giant.

“The investment attests strongly to the performance of the Macroom and Wexford plants, and local workers’ reputation for excellence was a critical factor in securing the investment for Macroom,” Mr O’Keeffe said.