Vegan firm Oatly shelves UK factory plan

The Oatly factory in Peterborough might have created up to 200 jobs

A global plant-based milk company has confirmed it is not going ahead with its first UK factory.

Sweden-based Oatly was due to build its first production facility for the country in Peterborough, a move it initially said would create 200 jobs.

But, as first reported in the Peterborough Telegraph, the company has withdrawn its planned unit at Peterborough Gateway.

Bryan Carroll, general manager of Oatly UK & Ireland, said the decision was made in November after “identifying new ways to serve the UK market [by] utilising existing facilities across Europe.”

Previously, the vegan food and drink products maker, which was founded by brothers Rickard and Björn Öste in the 1990s, said the UK factory would have capacity to grow and produce up to 450 million litres per year using locally sourced oats.

The company sells its products in more than 20 countries across Europe and Asia.

A planning application for the factory - which at that time Oatly said would be one of the world’s largest plant-based milk factories - was submitted in March 2021.

Despite work on the factory going ahead initially, a spokesperson said on Friday the “project had been on hold for a long time”.