Lakeland Dairies opens £8m global logistics centre in Newtownards

The co-operative exports almost 100% of its production to 77 countries

Lakeland Dairies has opened a global logistics centre in Newtownards, County Down, despite the ongoing problems in the industry.

The Newtownards site, which employs 200 people, will act as the firm's export hub.

It was completed following an investment of £8m, with £1.5m coming from Invest NI.

The co-operative exports almost 100% of its production to 77 countries.

Michael Hanley of Lakeland Dairies, said it was optimistic "despite the fact that dairy markets are going through a tough time - and will stay tough the next six to nine months".

"But we are seeing our customers doing repeat business, looking for more product," he added.

"This facility ties in extremely well with that, it gives the confidence to everybody that the future for dairy in the medium to long term is extremely good."

The Pritchitts site in Newtownards is the main dairy food-service arm of Lakeland Dairies.

The farmer owned business collects more than 800,000 litres of milk from Northern Ireland dairy farmers each day and more than 1bn litres of milk from across Ireland every year.

The site is based in Newtownards, County Down

The site has 12 different production lines making more than 100,000 tonnes of dairy products and 700m individual product units each year.

These include ice cream mixes, UHT milk, milk portions, flavoured milks, added value dairy creams, powdered desserts, cappuccino toppings and ice cream powder.

Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Jonathan Bell opened the facility and welcomed the development.

He said: "Agri-food has continued to grow, it's a £4.5bn industry, and it has grown against some of the toughest challenges of the recession - and that's the message today - we can face tough challenges, we are currently facing an enormously difficult challenge for the dairy sector, but against that backdrop we can still secure jobs, we can secure investment we can look to the future."