Oatly, the original Swedish oat drink company, has announced plans to build one of the largest plant-based dairy factories in the world.
The factory, to be located in Peterborough, UK, will be able to produce 300 million litres of oat drink per year at launch, with the capacity to grow to 450 million litres.
The UK factory is part of the wider initiative from Oatly to build factories fit for the future, with efficient use of resources and minimal negative impact on the planet.
Ishen Paran, General Manager at Oatly said the plant is expected to to launch in Q1 2023, and to generate at least 200 new jobs.
“Questions about a potential UK factory have been circulating for a while, and we’re really excited to finally announce the news of its arrival in 2023,” Mr Paran said.
“The UK is a really important driver of the global plant-based movement, with a growing demand for Oatly across the country, and we’re excited to supply this increased demand.”
Johan Rabe, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Oatly said oats will be sourced locally across the UK and the factory will supply the UK market.
“We look forward to supplying the UK with more oat drink – we’re even more excited to do it in a sustainable way,” Mr Rabe said.
He said sustainability was at the heart of the planning process, with Oatly aiming to use 100% renewable energy, and decrease its energy consumption, water consumption and waste by 75% each at the factory, by 2029 compared to the company’s environmental footprint in 2019.
“Like everything we do at Oatly, we’ve ensured that sustainability is core to our factory planning,” he said.
“Everything, from the sourcing of our oats, to the production of our product range specifically designed for humans, has sustainability at the heart of it.
“Even as we strive to grow one of the biggest plant-based dairy factories to its full capacity, this will still be our top priority.”
