A WELSH farmer-owned dairy co-operative is bucking the trend of under investment in processing facilities by opening a new cheese plant.

South Caernarfon Creameries says the plant at Chwilog, near Pwllheli, will boost cheese output to 12,000 tonnes each year, from from the current 9,500 tonnes.

The new facility is the first to be built in the UK for 40 years and will allow the business to produce a wider variety of cheeses.

The investment goes against current trends in the UK dairy industry. In the past five years, the UK dairy sector had the lowest level of investment in processing facilities among the six largest exporting countries in the EU. Nearly all of Britain’s spending was to replace old liquid sites which, while bringing efficiency savings, has not helped the country deal with the extra milk currently bring produced.

South Caernarfon Creameries managing director Alan Wyn Jones said it was vital for the business to invest for the future.

“Our new cheese factory provides us with best-in-class production facilities that will further support our growth strategy with both existing and new customers,’’ he said.

“Our objective now is to get the new factory to its full processing capacity as quickly as possible.”

If the co-op achieves its growth targets, a second investment phase is planned in the next few years, to further increase cheese production to 17,000 tonnes-a-year.

Currently, 125 farmers supply milk to the creamery and among them is John Gwynant Hughes, of Ynysgain Fawr, Criccieth. “We are proud that the business is forward-thinking and investing in our future – as dairy farmers, it gives us confidence during what is a very challenging period,’’ he said.