Demand for Alpro’s yoghurt alternatives has prompted the soy foods group to invest in production at a plant in Belgium.
Alpro, owned by US-listed WhiteWave Foods, is to spend EUR32m (US$42.2m) over three years at its factory in Wevelgem, close to the French border. The plant supplies the soy yoghurts across Europe.
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“We are constantly looking at the market and if our products are successful. We see our alternatives to yoghurt growing and, in order to have the capacity, we need to invest in more production,” a spokesperson for Alpro said.
The investment at the plant, to be made over three years, will also see Alpro develop new packaging for its soy drink products, which will use screw caps.
Alpro believes it can add 25 jobs at the plant, which employs around 300 “blue-collar” workers and 120 administrative staff. A further 120 are employed at Alpro’s HQ in the Belgian city of Gent. It has three other plants in Europe, including in the UK and Netherlands.
