Northern Irish dairy processor Dale Farm has opened a new £20m cheese and whey processing facility as it prepares to ramp up exports.

The facility would enable it to “significantly increase the amount of milk we can process, offering greater security to our members,” said Dr David Dobbin, Dale Farm group chief executive.

Located at Dale Farm’s site near Cookstown in County Tyrone, it is part of an ongoing £39m investment announced in 2010, partly funded through a European Regional Development Fund.

Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland’s enterprise, trade and investment minister, who opened the facility last week said Dale Farm’s investment was a “massive” vote of confidence in the future of dairy.

“It will enable our largest dairy business to expand sales outside Northern Ireland with cheese sales mainly into Great Britain and Northern Europe and whey protein sales to China and worldwide.”

Dobbin added: “We are now well-positioned to face the challenges coming out of the ending of milk quotas in 2015, especially with the doubling of our cheese and whey processing capacity.”

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