Carbery Group and BRF Brasil Foods in joint venture

Carbery Group has announced the formation of a 50/50 joint venture with one of South America’s leading food companies, BRF Brasil Foods. The venture, which involves a shared investment of $50 million, will deploy Carbery’s technology to process whey generated at Brasil Food’s cheese-making operations in one of the largest milk producing regions in Brazil.

The new operation will house a manufacturing plant to produce added value nutritional ingredients sourced from whey. The construction of the processing facility is planned to commence immediately and it will be commissioned in 2014.

BRF, which employs around 115,000 people and has an annual turnover of US$13.7 billion, is the second largest collector of milk in Brazil. Together with significant pork and poultry operations, the company has fourteen dairy processing sites in Brazil and another in Argentina and processes in excess of 1.6 billion litres of milk per annum. The company’s product portfolio includes cheese, UHT milks and fresh dairy products marketed under the Batavo and Elege brands.

In welcoming the joint venture, Dan MacSweeney, CEO of Carbery Group, says: “This joint venture with one of Brazil’s leading food companies further enhances our footprint in the vast South American agrifood business. It ensures we are positioned for further growth in a dynamic and growing economic region.”