FDBusiness.com

Ireland’s leading dairy ingredients company, Glanbia Ingredients Ireland (GII), has welcomed ambitious targets for growth set out in a new agri food strategy for Ireland – Food Wise 2025.

The new 10 year strategy, developed for Government by an advisory body comprised of senior agri food stakeholders, sets out targets to significantly and sustainably increase the value of agri food exports and primary production. Building on the progress achieved under Food Harvest 2020, the strategy details 350 recommendations for Government in what is Ireland’s most valuable indigenous sector.

Following the removal of EU milk quotas earlier this year – GII’s 4,800 milk suppliers are aiming to increase milk production by 63% by 2020. GII currently processes 1.6 billion litres of milk or 30% of Ireland’s milk pool into a range of dairy ingredients for export to more than 50 countries. The company recently completed a €235 million infrastructure investment programme, which culminated in the development of a high-spec nutritional ingredients facility at Belview in Co Kilkenny, which is operating exclusively for the export market.

CEO Jim Bergin (pictured) says GII’s ambitious plans for global growth across the areas of infant and clinical nutrition, health and wellness, and butter and cheese, are founded on a model that has sustainability at its core, and he welcomes the clear signal from Government that the sector will continue to be supported to grow in a way that is sustainable – economically, socially and environmentally.

“Glanbia Ingredients Ireland has a proven track record of prioritising energy and environmental management. We believe that this makes economic and environmental sense and, importantly, it also sends a clear signal to our customers that we are committed to sustainable indigenous food production. We export 85% of what we produce to recognised brands around the world. Our sustainably-focused business model helps to support our customer’s goals in reducing the overall carbon footprint of their brands, and this is a very important differentiator in the market place.

“We welcome the Government’s recognition of the agri food sector as Ireland’s most valuable indigenous industry and we will continue to work with them to promote growth in a way that is sustainable into the future,” he says.

GII currently employs almost 700 people and has market bases in Ireland, Germany, US, Dubai and Senegal. It achieves sales revenues of over €899 million in 2014.

In 2007, Glanbia Ingredients Ireland was the first Irish owned company to achieve the Irish Energy Management Standard. In 2009, it transitioned to the European Energy Standard, and in 2011 to the International Energy Standard. In 2012, GII was the first Irish dairy processor to be accredited by the Carbon Trust for carbon reductions and the first dairy processor to become a verified member of Origin Green. In 2013, it became the first dairy processor in the world to be accredited by the Carbon Trust for work on efficient water utilisation.