Tine will expand its operations in Ireland and move the production of 10,000 tons of Jarlsberg cheese to the country.
On Thursday, the Board of Tine decided to begin planning an Irish production facility for the Norwegian cheese that has become a brand abroad as well as nationally, the newspaper Dagens Næringsliv writes.
The volume is equivalent to 6-7 percent of the Norwegian milk production and 90 million liters of milk.
Tine already has a lease on production with the Irish dairy giant Dairygold, which has produced 2,500 tons of Jarlsberg annually. The plan is now to extend that cooperation.
Jarlsberg-exports from Norway to abroad is currently based on export support. The reason that more of the production is being moved out of Norway is that this support scheme is to be phased out towards the end of 2020.
-This support being removed will simply make exports unprofitable. To move Jarlsberg-production in Norway to Ireland is not something that we do lighheartedly, Chairman of Tine Tron Reierstad says in the wake of Thursday’s Board meeting.
Tine will now work to find other ways to sell 90 million liters of Norwegian milk.
Tine also has its own Jarlsberg-production in the United States, where 5,500 tons of cheese are produced annually.
The move of the production to Ireland will take place in 2019 at the earliest .
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today