Oatly to build plant-based dairy drinks factory in UK

Swedish vegan brand Oatly has unveiled plans for a new plant-based dairy manufacturing site in Peterborough, marking its first UK factory.

The company has partnered with food and drink capital investment firm Integrated Food Projects to build its new facility, which is expected to be completed in early 2023 and create over 200 jobs.

The facility will able to produce 300 million litres of oat drink per year at launch, with the capacity to expand to 450 million litres, which Oatly says will make it one of the largest plant-based dairy factories in the world.

Located in Peterborough, the factory will form part of a new end-to-end integrated supply chain in the UK – sourcing oats locally across the UK and supplying oat beverages to the UK market.

The Peterborough site forms part of Oatly’s wider initiative to build factories ‘fit for the future’, with efficient use of resources and minimal negative impact on the planet. By 2029, the company aims to use 100% renewable energy and decrease its energy consumption and waste by 75% at the factory.

“We look forward to supplying the UK with more oat drink – we’re even more excited to do it in a sustainable way,” said Johan Rabe, Oatly chief supply chain officer.

He added: “Like everything we do at Oatly, we’ve ensured that sustainability is core to our factory planning. 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.”

Matt Carr, joint-managing director at Integrated Food Projects, said: “There is a huge demand for Oatly products in the UK, and we are delighted to be working with them to deliver their vision of what a factory of the future can achieve. Sustainability is at the heart of Oatly’s business and helping to create a new factory and UK supply chain, in line with the ethos of the Oatly brand, is vital for the successful delivery of the project.” 

Last July, Oatly sold a minority stake in its business for $200 million to fund its expansion and the inauguration of new production plants.

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