Kerry Group signs lucrative export deal with Chinese manufacturer

Kerry Group has signed a partnership deal with Beingmate of China to supply dairy ingredients for infant nutrition applications in China.

Beingmate is one of China’s leading manufacturers of infant nutrition products headquartered in Hangzhou, in China. The Partnership provides export growth opportunities for added value dairy ingredients from Kerry Group’s dairy processing facilities in Charleville, Co Cork, and Listowel, Co Kerry.

Kerry Group director Frank Hayes said: “This deal is building on a relationship we have had with Beingmate for the past 10 years. We have developed an export market into China for dairy protein and infant food products.

“Beingmate has a well established distribution and retail network in China, and we have reached the stage where their customers are now looking to Ireland for sustainable dairy raw materials.

“We are looking forward to growing our offerings in food technology for infant and other life stages in the nutritional dairy market in China. This partnership will offer real growth opportunities in research, development and added value products.”

Kerry Group, via its facility in Malaysia, has been delivering nutritional products and technologies for several years to Beingmate, along with advanced research and development services. The Chinese company’s confidence in Kerry Group is likely to be of significant benefit to the broader Irish dairy industry as it develops its FH2020 expansion plans.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said that the relationship between Kerry Group and Beingmate was built on the strong international reputation of Ireland as a producer of the highest quality food stuffs.

Mr Coveney said: “This partnership is the product of the hard work and dedication of the Kerry Group. The fact that Ireland is now seen as the major supplier for infant nutritionals worldwide shows the esteem in which Irish food safety control systems, and the quality of Ireland’s grass-based farm produce, are held internationally.”

The minister said that Kerry Group’s deal with Beingmate is a key step in the development of Ireland’s trade with China. He added that Ireland’s political and commercial efforts in China must be supported by an environmentally sustainable production models at all levels of the supply chain.

Mr Coveney said: “Procurement divisions in all of the major multinational food companies have sustainability at the heart of their corporate agendas. Ireland is the first country, internationally, to develop an independently accredited sustainability model at industry level, through Bord BIA’s ‘Origin Green’ initiative.

“At farm level, the development of a dairy sustainability programme is at an advanced stage. I am confident that these initiatives will provide essential building blocks for Irish food companies to increase international trade in China and elsewhere.”

He said he wished the Kerry Group and Beingmate every success in the latest beneficial collaborative business arrangements between China and Ireland.