Arla switches butter production to Westbury

Arla Foods has announced it will begin manufacturing butter at the Westbury Dairies milk plant in Wiltshire.

The firm became a shareholder in Westbury with First Milk and Milk Link in September and since then all three parties have been exploring ways to develop the plant, originally built to produce bulk butter and skimmed milk powder.

Arla Foods will operate the existing bulk butter-making facility and will also build a dedicated butter-making and packing facility for retail products. This could result in the closure of its existing production lines at Settle in North Yorkshire, Götene in Sweden and Varde in Denmark.

Arla Foods UK chief executive Peter Lauritzen, said the move was “strategically important for Arla by enhancing our environmental credentials in line with our carbon reduction strategy, and further reinforces our commitment to the UK.

“The initiative is also in line with our commitment to develop the potential of the Westbury facility and secure its long-term future.”

All three joint venture partners will continue to use the skimmed milk powder production capacity at Westbury and Milk Link’s butter production at its Lockerbie Creamery, in southwest Scotland will be unaffected by the announcement.