Alföldi Tej is investing in the Debrecen site after exceeding capacity in Székesfehérvár © Alföldi Tej
Hungarian dairy company Alföldi Tej has announced investment of HUF 12 billion (€39 million) in its plant in the city of Debrecen.
The cash injection will be used to install new technology, which will increase the plant’s capacity for powdered milk and cheese by 7,000 and 8,500 tonnes respectively.
Almost a third of the increased output will be exported to China, after the Hungarian government signed a new export agreement with its counterparts in Beijing.
The Hungarian government will contribute HUF 4.8 billion (€15.6 million) in grants towards the planned investment, which Alföldi Tej described as unprecedented in its scale in recent years.
The investment is necessary because the amount of milk processed by the group exceeded the 245-million-litre annual capacity of its plant in the city of Székesfehérvár – 150 miles to the west of Debrecen.
It will create more than 180 new jobs, managing director Mélykuti Tibor was quoted as saying by Hungarian news agency MTI.
Alföldi Tej acquired the Debrecen site from Royal FrieslandCampina back in 2015.
The company is one of the largest dairy cooperatives in Hungary, buying up to 320 million litres of milk a year and generating profit of HUF 216 million (€700,000) from net sales of HUF 42.9 billion (€139.5 million) in 2015.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024