European dairy cooperative Arla Foods, has invested a total of $63 million (BD21 million) in its manufacturing plant in Bahrain which it acquired from Mondelez International in 2019.

The investment has been made to increase the capacity of the plant as part of the dairy major’s long-term plan for the kingdom, the Danish company said in a statement.

Peder Tuborgh, CEO of Arla Foods, called it a ‘game changer for its Mena business’ when he announced the acquisition of the production site in 2018. The company’s biggest investment outside of Europe.

Immediately after taking over the plant, substantial plans for increasing capacity were initiated and the site is now delivering on its full potential.

Yearly production has increased from 20,000 tonnes to approx. 80,000 tonnes, producing Puck and Kraft processed cheese and sterilised cream products with 95 per cent of volumes distributed to the Mena-region, it said.

“We have a growing business in Mena and has as such clearly identified it as one of our core markets in our latest five year strategy, Future26. Bahrain and the site in Manama play a key role in our plans and it’s with great pleasure that we now see the site running at full capacity and delivering on its potential,” Tuborgh said.

With the completion of the site in Manama, Arla Foods has moved parts of its production to Bahrain with subsequent benefits of improved product shelf-life, minimised costs for transportation and product development from the on-site pilot plant.

As a result of the investment 200 direct jobs and approx. the same number of indirect jobs have been created, locally.

The latest update to the site in Manama includes a $1.3 million investment in green energy with 8,000 sq m of solar cells making it one of the biggest solar power plants in Bahrain.