Dairy industry makes development of large farms a priority

The fragmentation of the milk collection system, due to the large number of suppliers, has encouraged major players in the dairy industry to start significant investment programmes in order to build their own large farms. “As getting raw material (milk) has become a serious problem across the whole of Europe, because milk consumption has increased significantly over the last few years, the development of large farms in Romania is a huge opportunity, as well as a priority,” explained Traian Simion, general manager of Albalact Alba Iulia. Albalact shareholders have approved an investment plan worth over 7 million euros to purchase new farms and increase the average production capacity of the Vaidei farm (Hunedoara county) from 10,000 litres of milk per day to 20,000 litres. Another local company that invests in its own farms in order to ensure the necessary amount of raw material is LaDorna, which owns over 100 farms and has already invested in the construction of organic farms, together with local farms, for more than three years. The last player to enter the market, Israeli’s Tnuva, has in turn invested over 55 million euros both in building a dairy factory and in its own cattle farm in Popesti-Leordeni, close to Bucharest.