Jarlsberg was named after an area of Norway south of Oslo.
Norwegian dairy producer Tine will form a new partnership with Irish company Dairygold to expand distribution of its Jarlsberg cheese outside of Norway.
The move, Tine said, would help it to protect Norwegian farmers in the face of the World Trade Organization’s decision to phase out subsidies for agricultural exports by 2020, making Jarlsberg exports potentially unprofitable.
The mild, semi-soft cheese – similar to Swiss Emmental – accounts for “a large part” of Tine’s NOK 3.1 billion (€330 million) turnover, and represents 90% of Norway’s cheese exports to the US and Canada, the Oslo-headquartered company said.
As part of the partnership, Dairygold and Tine will build a new plant for production of wheels of Jarlsberg cheese with an “immediate connection” to Dairygold’s existing plant.
Extending the ten-year working relationship between the two companies, the new factory could eventually match, in terms of capacity, Norway’s existing Jarlsberg exports.
Bjørn Moldskred, Tine’s executive director of international operations, said: “The international market is supplied today with Norwegian brands through both brand exports from Norway, and through brand production in the US and Ireland. Regarding Jarlsberg, Tine wants to supply international markets by increasing production in Ireland in line with the company’s strategy.”
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