A Coleraine creamery has invested £6m to construct a new butter processing plant.

Ballyrashane Creamery, which employs 150 staff, has developed a new speciality butter and is to construct a new plant.

Invest NI has offered almost £1.4m towards the project.

NI Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said: "The creamery... is investing to enable it to exploit opportunities for innovative butter products in target European markets that will command higher prices than commodity butter and therefore offer better returns for its milk suppliers.

-- Advertisement --

"In addition to supporting export sales, Ballyrashane's overall competitiveness will be enhanced by measures being implemented to increase efficiency and to reduce costs."

Nigel Kemps, chief executive of Ballyrashane Creamery, added: "This very substantial investment for the business will improve efficiency, increase productivity, reduce costs and enhance profitability.

"It will increase our competitiveness particularly in Britain, the Republic of Ireland and other European markets. We have long-established business partnerships with both a major European and a local distributor to support this process. Underpinning this strategy is a commitment to offer dairy farmers in the region - including over 80 dairy farmers who currently supply our milk - better prices in both the short and long term for the high quality milk they supply to the co-operative."

(IT/MH)