Ornua Opens €38 Million Butter Production & Packing Facility

15 Sep 2016 --- Irish dairy producer and supplier Ornua has celebrated the official opening of Kerrygold Park, a €38 million state-of-the-art Kerrygold butter production and packing facility in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. The production facility will have a capacity of up to 50,000 tons of butter per annum and will initially employ 65 people. The new center was officially opened by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD and Ornua Chairman, Aaron Forde.

Ornua is Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products, exporting to over 110 countries worldwide. A key part of Ornua’s growth strategy is to significantly increase sales of the Kerrygold brand. Today, Kerrygold sales retail at c€750 million, with targets to grow to €1 billion. Kerrygold Park will ensure a world-class supply chain to support both this growth target and the further development of the brand.

Kerrygold Park will have the capability to produce new butter products and formats not currently available in Ireland. Kerrygold Park will also house the ‘Green to Gold’ Customer Innovation Center, which will be a key destination for international customer visits to Ireland.

Commenting, Kevin Lane, Ornua CEO said: “The opening of Kerrygold Park marks a special day for Ireland’s dairy industry. The quality of Irish milk is exceptional. From the fields to the processors, the success of Kerrygold is based on the outstanding quality of the milk and cream that goes into it.  Now, we have a world-class production and packing facility to complete the value chain.  Kerrygold Park is core to our ambitious plans to develop the Kerrygold brand from a butter brand to a dairy brand. Not only will the new facility significantly enhance our production, it also greatly improves our innovation capability and our ability to deliver premium dairy products to consumers around the world. This is the most effective way of securing value for Irish dairy farmers.”

Opening the facility, Minister Creed said: “Increasing global population, urbanisation and the westernization of diet in developing countries offers Ireland’s dairy industry significant opportunity for expansion. Ireland’s targets for the development of the sector under Food Wise 2025, and beyond, require that we identify valuable routes to market and mechanisms to add value to Irish dairy products. 

By opening new markets and developing new products, Ornua is playing a key role in delivering the demand for Irish product to meet increased supply resulting from the abolition of milk quotas. The opening of Kerrygold Park is a major vote of confidence in the future of the Irish dairy industry. Furthermore, this new facility offers a significant jobs boost to North Cork and the South West Region.”

Minister Mitchell O’Connor added: “The opening of Kerrygold Park, and the 65 new jobs created today, is excellent news for the people of Mitchelstown and North Cork. This announcement is hugely significant for Ireland’s dairy sector. Kerrygold is already an iconic butter brand and this expansion is important to our continued growth in export trade. Ornua’s strategy to develop Kerrygold as a global dairy brand will contribute to increasing trade and employment in rural communities throughout Ireland.”

The opening was attended by international customers and representatives from the dairy and business communities. The establishment of Kerrygold Park is the latest step in Ornua’s business growth programme. The goal of this programme is to build and develop valuable routes to market for Irish dairy products. Ornua purchased 286,000mt of dairy products from Ireland’s dairy processors in 2015, up 16% on the previous year, this figure is expected to grow by c30% in 2016. New factory builds and factory expansions have been completed in Africa, China, Germany, Spain, the US and the UK.

Kerrygold is Ireland’s much loved global food brand. The Kerrygold brand was created by Sir Anthony O’Reilly in 1962, CEO of, what was then called, An Bord Bainne. His vision for the brand was to establish Kerrygold as a premium brand, befitting the rich quality of Irish milk. The Kerrygold story is, to a large degree, the story of Irish dairy farming. Known and loved by consumers around the world, the brand is associated with images of cows grazing in lush green pastures. Irish diaspora spot the familiar golden foil packaging in shops around the world and it is an immediate link to home. Kerrygold advertising campaigns became viral at a time when YouTube did not exist, and to this day people of a certain age still ask the question “Who is Taking the Horse to France?”. Today, Kerrygold enjoys leading positions in many of its markets. It is the number one branded butter in Germany. In the United States, Kerrygold is the number one imported butter brand and the number three overall butter brand.