Carbery Group completes €78m expansion 

The mozzarella plant at Carbery in Ballineen, West Cork. The new cheese production facility is part of an overall €78m expansion of their headquarters site which is now operational (Photo: Don MacMonagle)

New state-of-the-art facility in West Cork is now operational, with group’s output set to increase from 55,000 tonnes per annum to 64,000

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Carbery Group recently completed the expansion at its headquarters in Ballineen, West Cork, and started production of new mozzarella and grilling cheese varieties.

Supported by a €78m investment in a new facility at its HQ, the new range will be sold in existing and new markets with a particular focus on growing markets in Asia.

“Our cheese diversification strategy has been in the works now for a number of years, so it’s great to see all our planning and efforts come to fruition,” said CEO Jason Hawkins.

“It’s a significant investment for us, in financial terms, but also in terms of our strategy, our people and market research,” Hawkins added. “This diversification will create new markets and value for our West Cork milk suppliers.”

The expansion in Ballineen is supported by a new state-of-the-art facility, with specialist equipment from New Zealand, Italy, UK, Denmark and Minnesota in the US. The group will initially be focusing exports on customers in Asia, including China and Japan, and mainland Europe.

“We have been implementing a growth strategy for a number of years now to diversify our outputs, and therefore expand our customer base,” said COO John Holland.

“We believe that our heritage and expertise in dairy, combined with our dedicated people, talented team of researchers, food scientists and cheese technologists enables us to develop products that will excite our existing and new customers,” he added.

Best known for producing Dubliner Cheese and Carbery Cracker for the Irish domestic market as well as cheese for export under the Ornua brands, Carbery Group currently produces 55,000 tonnes of cheese annually, or 25% of all cheese made in Ireland.

This is set to increase to 64,000 tonnes with the new expansion now in place. The new production facilities will allow Carbery to offer pasta filata, including mozzarella and grilling cheese, to the market. The group is also continuing to supply a wide range of cheddar types.

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