Müller Optimistic at Formal Opening of £17m Butter Plant
09 Dec 2013 --- Theo Müller Snr, owner of Müller Group, has hailed the opening of a major new butter making plant in Shropshire as a sign of his company’s optimism and confidence in the UK.
Speaking at the formal opening of the £17 million state of the art plant at Müller Dairy in Market Drayton Herr Müller said that his company was making substantial progress in the UK and Ireland.
He pointed to recent investments by Müller Group in acquiring fresh milk processor Müller Wiseman Dairies, a chilled desserts facility in Minsterley and Nom UK’s yogurt manufacturing facility in Telford, as evidence of his company’s ambitions.
And he revealed that his company will extend the range of products made at the butter plant, which will initially manufacture 25kg and 10kg blocks of salted, unsalted and lactic butter for the food manufacturing and food ingredient industries.
Interest from customers has been such that the company is accelerating plans to install a packet butter operation so that it can also offer 250 gram products to the retail and food service sectors from early summer 2014.
Commented Theo Müller Snr: “It is almost 21 years since our initial investment in the yogurt factory here in Market Drayton and the introduction to the UK of Müller Corner and whilst there is a lot to do, I feel that we are now coming of age in the UK & Ireland."
“By investing in new products and highly efficient manufacturing facilities, we aim to offer customers the means by which their consumers can access great dairy products made in Britain with milk produced by British dairy farmers.”
Speaking at the event, the Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP for North Shropshire and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said:
“My priorities for DEFRA are growing the rural economy and improving the environment. Key to this is adding value to basic agricultural raw materials such as milk. Müller provides a spectacular example of both adding value and growing their business."
“Another key element of our strategy is to replace imports, as 24% of the food eaten in the UK is imported, but could be produced here. "
“The new £17 million butter plant is a typically bold venture by Müller and a massive step towards delivering our priorities. It is also excellent news for local dairy farmers and a great credit to the skilled Market Drayton workforce who have played such a key role in this national success story.”
Ronald Kers, Chief Executive of Müller UK & Ireland Group commented: “Britain is one of the world’s great milk producing nations yet it is reliant on more than £2bn of dairy products sourced from continental Europe and Ireland. This represents a major opportunity for well invested dairy companies in the UK and for dairy farmers in Britain."
“We know that there is domestic and international demand for great British butter produced with cream from Red Tractor Farm Assured British milk and this new facility will allow us to add value and satisfy this demand.“
