Arla and DMK Group sign agreement over cheese production

The Danish dairy company, Arla Foods, has signed a manufacturing agreement with German firm, DMK Group, for the production of mozzarella.

DMK will produce 35,000 tonnes of mozzarella a year for Arla, with Arla annually supplying 300-350mn kilos of milk and in order to do so.

DMK will rebuild its Nordhackstedt factory, with the new factory becoming a fully-focused site that only manages the production of the cheese.

The Danish firm are to spend €15mn (US$17.8mn) on the conversion, which is expected to be operational by late 2018.

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“Arla is one of the world’s leading producers of mozzarella cheese, and with this agreement we aim to build on that position to continue to provide consumers and foodservice customers with quality mozzarella in Europe, Asia, USA and the Middle East,” said CEO of Arla Foods, Peder Tuborgh.

“We are very pleased to sign this important manufacturing agreement that secures access to profitable raw material for our joint venture production at ArNoCo,” he added.

There has been an increase in the global demand for mozzarella, both for consumers and the foodservice industry.

“We are re-shaping our footprint for our German plants to produce in a more efficient way. Next to this, we are optimizing our portfolio towards more value-creating products,” commented Ingo Müller, CEO of DMK Group.

“This contract manufacturing agreement will enable us to make the next step forward and to weatherproof DMK for the future.”