Creamery to create 30 jobs in £14m expansion:
A FARMER-owned creamery has announced a three-year £14.4 million expansion to increase cheese production by 50 per cent and create 30 new jobs by 2024.
The investment by South Caernarfon Creameries (SCC) is being backed by the Welsh Government with a £5 million grant from their Food Business Investment Scheme.
The dairy co-operative plans to increase production from its current level of 15,000 tons of cheese a year to 23,000 tons with an increase in staff from 130 to 160 over the next three years.
This growth is projected to increase its demand for welsh milk for their plant at Chwilog, near Pwllheli, from its current level of 130 million to more than 200 million litres a year as turnover ramps up from its current level of £60 million a year to over £85 million.
Managing director Alan Wyn-Jones said: “Following our first phase of investment back in 2016, we’re pleased to announce the next phase of our business growth strategy which will make us even more resilient, efficient and sustainable in what is a ferociously competitive industry.
“We have grown strongly in recent years with our sales doubling in the last five years from £30m to £60m and have reached the current production capacity of the plant after major investment in our core cheese production and packing facilities back in 2016.
“We are not interested in growing for growing’s sake. Our plan is all about making us even more competitive and profitable and so more resilient and sustainable for the future.
“As a dairy farmer cooperative that directly leads to more competitive and stable returns for our farmer members from across North and Mid Wales, thus enhancing the competitiveness of the Welsh dairy sector and farm viability.”
SCC, set up over 80 years ago, has remained on the same site near Pwllheli, and is Wales’s only farmerowned dairy co-operative with 134 members.
The latest investment follows on from £11.5 million spent in 2016 on a new state-of-the-art production and packing plant where their range of cheeses is matured, cut and packaged for the UK and the international market as well as village and corner shops across Wales.
The £14.4 million project will include new facilities for milk reception, additional cheese production and packing lines and a new whey processing facility. Investment is also planned for effluent treatment and improving its environmental and energy performance.
The works are scheduled over a three-year period to be completed by 2024.