Arla opens new Senegal site
Arla has opened its new Dano milk powder packaging facility in Dakar, capital of Senegal. The new site is an important step for the farmer owned dairy company as it pursues its 2020 strategy with Senegal, a gateway to further expansion in the West African region.
The new plant has a capacity to annually handle 5,000 tonnes of milk powder made in Europe from Arla’s farmer owners’ milk. At the 14,000m2 plant, fat filled milk powder and instant whole milk powder will be re-packed into various retail-sized packaging, for example foil sachets, which are affordable and easy to mix with water to get a glass of milk.
“The facility is the latest milestone in Arla’s ambition to actively take part in developing the dairy market in West Africa and providing affordable nutrition of high quality to consumers in the region. It will also contribute with jobs as we will initially employ 20 people in the production and more as we grow the sales and thereby also the production volume,” says Steen Hadsbjerg, head of Arla in Sub Saharan Africa.
The sachets from the plant will initially be distributed to wholesalers and stores in Senegal by Arla’s partner, Dakar based partner Agroline SA and later extended to neighboring countries.
“Agorline has a very strong ambient and chilled distribution setup across Senegal. Sengeal will be our hub for expanding into Mali and also Mauretania with our products. Depending on capacity we expect to launch in Mali later this year,” adds Hadsbjerg.
