Dansco cheese plant gets Canadian buyer

The troubled Dansco mozzarella cheese plant in south west Wales has been sold for £5.3m.


A spokesman for administrators KPMG confirmed that the creamery had been bought by Saputo Inc, which is based in Quebec in Canada and is one of the world’s top 20 dairy processors.


The deal was welcomed by farming unions and the 100 farmers who supplied milk to the Newcastle Emlyn plant, many of whom had cancelled their contracts when payments were delayed.


Aled Jones, Morlogwys, said producers hoped that they would now receive the £1.5m they were owed.


“We will know much more when we meet the buyers on Monday,” Mr Jones said.


Peter Davies, the Farmers Union of Wales’s director of administration, who had been in weekly contact with the Canadian company since January, said the buyout was great news for suppliers and the plant’s 130 loyal staff.


But 400 workers and farmers who supply birds to the Cranberry Foods turkey processing plant at Abergavenny in Monmouthshire will have to wait until April 9 to hear a decision on possible closure, which had been recommended by a business review.


Cranberry bought the UK’s second largest processing factory four years ago from receivers brought in by the previous owners, Brandons.