Arla closing Lillebælt dairy

By Jim Cornall

- Last updated on GMT

Arla is moving production of its white mold cheese from Lillebælt Dairy to Troldhede Dairy.
Arla is moving production of its white mold cheese from Lillebælt Dairy to Troldhede Dairy.

Related tags Cheese Arla foods

Danish dairy cooperative Arla Foods is moving production of its Castello brand white mold cheese to its Troldhede dairy location, resulting in the loss of 66 jobs at Lillebælt Dairy, which will close by the beginning of 2019.

Arla said the move will increase efficiencies and make the Troldhede site more environmentally sustainable.

The company added there is more potential to make long-term investments at the Troldhede Dairy.

Lowering costs

Group vice president at Arla, Lars Dalsgaard, who has global responsibility for Arla’s cheese production, said analysis of the Lillebælt operation revealed it is no longer profitable to continue production.

He said substantial investment would be needed to secure long-term production at the site, and by combining the production of white mold cheese at Troldhede Dairy, costs will be lowered, which will benefit Arla’s farmer owners.

Plan for affected workers

Arla said a plan has been put together for the workers at Lillebælt Dairy to secure future job opportunities.

“We have a lot of very good experience in finding new jobs for colleagues affected by such announcements and we will, of course, do all that we can to help the colleagues at Lillebælt Dairy into new employment, either within Arla or externally,”​ Dalsgaard said.

The Lillebælt facility is located between Fredericia and Kolding.

Arla said it will offer the affected colleagues jobs at its nearby dairies such as Korsvej and Taulov, which are 7km and 1.7km from the affected plant respectively.

Both dairies have recently received investments of more than 157m kr ($24m) in expansions and production development. 

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