Friesland Coberco subsidiary Frico Cheese intends to close its Winterswijk factory in the Netherlands on 1 April, citing prohibitive production and maintenance costs as the reason.
The company claims that 12kg drums of Gouda can be manufactured more cheaply at its other plants where more modern facilities are sufficiently flexible to manufacture different types of cheeses as demand dictates and, unlike Winterswijk, are not in imminent need of upgrading.
A spokesman for Friesland Coberco said: