I welcome the recent announcement by Mondelez to invest €3.6 million in its Cadbury Chocolate crumb manufacturing plant in Rathmore. The company plans to install a new milk evaporator and new building to replace existing technology.
The news is a welcome one for East Kerry as it secures the future of the current 86 workers at the plant, hopefully it will lead to additional jobs at the plant going forward, and of course it creates immediate employment at the construction stage. Its good news also for the farming community as it secures reliable and sizeable custom for local milk producers. Cadbury source approximately 80 million litres of fresh Irish milk annually for use in chocolate crumb manufacture. Milk is sourced from Kerry Group, Boherbue, Lee Strand and Dairygold.
Established in 1948, the factory is located on the banks of the river Blackwater in Rathmore, Co Kerry. In the past, sugar travelled by rail from the nearby Irish Sugar factory in Mallow. Since the closure of Irish Sugar in 2006, this key ingredient is now imported. See my proposal for reviving the sugar beet industry. http://www.donalgrady.com/irish-sugar-beet-revival/
