Major investment for Danisco in the fast-growing cultures market

Danisco has announced investments totalling 60 million euros that will add more than 2,000 tonnes to its existing cultures production capacity over the next three years. These investments will meet growing global demand for frozen and freeze-dried Direct Vat Inoculants (DVI) and reinforce Danisco's leading market position as a cultures supplier.

The additional capacities will be located both in North America, where Danisco is transforming a former enzyme production unit from its Genencor Division into a cultures plant, and in Europe.

Profitable growth

With 9% sales growth and 23% profitability growth compared to last year, Danisco Cultures Division is experiencing rapidly increasing market demand as more dairy manufacturers convert from traditional bulk starter cultures to the more reliable DVI solutions.

The steep demand growth curve is also fuelled by the continuous rise of the health & nutrition market, particularly for probiotic cultures in both dietary supplements and functional foods, the development of natural food protective solutions as well as the mainstream trend towards more natural and sustainable products as cultures benefit from consumer friendly labelling.

Furthermore, the acquisition in 2008 of the US company Agtech Products marked an important strategic step towards broadening Danisco Cultures' market penetration by bringing cultures for animal nutrition and other non-food markets into the company portfolio.

Optimised industrial footprint

"We will accelerate our time-to-market to better serve our DVI customers using our production hubs in Europe and in the US," comments Doug Willrett, Executive Vice President, Danisco Cultures Division.

Danisco has already debottlenecked its capacity at several cultures production sites within the past year. The around 2,000 tonnes additional capacity is expected to progressively be commissioned over the next three years and will benefit from the latest process improvements developed by Danisco.

"Rochester's transformation into a Cultures plant will enable us to save on time and capital expenditures and be ready in the US during the course of 2009," adds Willrett.

"This is a significant investment from Danisco, which demonstrates the Group's long term commitment to be our customers' First choice for their needs in state-of-the-art, affordable cultures," says Fabienne Saadane-Oaks, Danisco Bio Actives President.

Following the additional planned investments, Danisco will be equipped to fulfil the global market demand for cultures for the next few years.