Leche Pascual unveils Catalan plan
plant in Barcelona to supply the Catalan market, despite the recent
boycott of its products there.
Leche Pascual, the Spanish dairy products group, has acquired a plot of land in the suburbs of Barcelona where it said it would build a new production facility to serve the Catalan market.
The new 12,000 square metre plant will be built on a 46,000 square metre plot in the suburb of Gurb, and will cost Leche Pascual €33 million. It should begin operations at the end of 2004.
According to local press reports, the new facility will have the capacity to process some 300,000 litres of milk each day, around 20 per cent of the total annual output of Catalonia.
The plant, Leche Pascual's fourth in Spain, will initially focus solely on milk processing, although the company said that it would consider developing a fruit juice production line at a later date.
The decision to build the plant in Catalonia is something of a surprise as Leche Pascual's relationship with the authorities there has been a difficult one of late.
Earlier this year the company said that it would no longer source its milk supplies in Catalonia because the cost was too prohibitive, a move which prompted consumers to boycott the group's products.
However, the Catalan authorities claimed that Leche Pascual's move was in fact retaliation for their opposition to the company's attempts to define its shelf-stable dairy desserts as yoghurts.
Meanwhile, another Spanish company, Sos Cuetara, has announced that it is to buy 54.13 per cent of the Aceica Refineria company for an undisclosed sum.
Aceica Refineria is a refiner and bottler of edible oils, and will be a good fit with Sos Cuetara, which produces a range of food products including biscuits, rice and edible oils after the acquisition of the Koipe company in 2002.
