Seprod Aims to Make Dairy Farming Comeback with New Merger
JAMAICA - In Seprod's 79th year of operation, the company has decided to merge its Serge Island Dairy processing plant in Seaforth, St Thomas and the recently acquired dairy-processing plant in Bogwalk, St Catherine into a single operation called Serge Dairies.
4 June 2019
2 minute read
The launch was held in Bybrook in Bog Walk on Tuesday, 28 May.
Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw commended the partnership and said it is a source of great inspiration.
"You haven't just bought a facility, you have creatively bought a facility and created a partnership in which you are setting the stage that —with the participation of small farmers — we can rebuild the dairy industry. I applaud this partnership," Shaw said at the launch.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness also celebrated the merger and said it was no a small feat to place a capital of $7 billion at risk.
With the new partnership, Serge Dairies is now the largest-single dairy operation in the English-speaking Caribbean and the investment is said to position Serge Dairies to ramp up production and increase both exports and imports substitution.
Seprod's products are currently found in 23 markets across the globe, primarily in the Caribbean.
Over the last five years, the investment into the company was aimed at upgrading the factory with state-of the art manufacturing and packaging technology, investing in and expanding the Serge Island Dairy Farm in Seaforth, St Thomas, acquiring the dairy-processing plant in Bog Walk (formerly owned by Nestlé), and amalgamating the dairy-processing facilities into what is now Serge Dairies in Bog Walk, St Catherine.
The investment should allow for growth in the dairy business exponentially through innovation and exports with growth targets in excess of 15 percent per annum.
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Source: Jamaica Observer
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