Aurivo has officially opened a new spray dryer facility in Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon, with Michael Creed, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in attendance.

The new dryer is a “significant element” of Aurivo’s €48 million capital investment programme that was announced in 2018.

Aurivo says that the new investment will boost its dairy ingredients capacity by some 55%, and allow it to produce over 60,000t of milk powders for international markets, and 15,000t of butter annually.

At a time of uncertainty with issues such as Brexit looming in the background, this and other capital investment initiatives under Aurivo’s ambitious five-year strategy programme is a vote of confidence for growth potential within the Irish dairy sector.

“I’d like to congratulate Aurivo for its continued commitment to supporting the growth ambitions of its members and its role in helping to ensure that Ireland remains at the forefront within the global dairy marketplace,” said Minister Creed, speaking at the opening.

The facility was constructed between October 2018 and April of this year, with 150 construction personnel working “around the clock, seven days a week”.

According to Aurivo, the facility is highly energy efficient, and uses bulk renewable natural gas as its heat energy source – the first facility in the country to use this type of energy.

This investment would not be possible without the support of Aurivo’s milk suppliers, who continue to supply premium quality milk, as well as continued financial support through share standard.

“The new dryer will ensure that the future generations of farming family’s suppliers and employees are in a safe, well-governed co-op for generations to come and that all milk produced in this region will be processed to the highest standards for our numerous markets around the globe,” said Pat Duffy, chairperson of Aurivo.

Meanwhile, Aaron Forde, CEO of Aurivo, said that the investment is “an example of our growth strategy in action and plays an important role in achieving our goal to grow Aurivo by 25% to a 500 million litre milk business over the next three years”.

He added that the company was “well on track” to meet this target.

The investment was supported by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, through Enterprise Ireland.

Eddie Hughes, the Enterprise Ireland representative at the launch, argued that capital infrastructure “will support [Aurivo’s] plans to expand its dairy ingredient business through new product development”.