Milking its investments

Spółdzielnia Mleczarska Ostrołęka (Milk Cooperative Ostrołęka - SMO) has recently completed a three-year zł.60-million investment in expanding its production plant. The major investment was a new production line designed to produce milk using ESL (extended shelf-life) technology.

"This is one of the most modern ESL milk-production lines in Europe," says the company's president Tadeusz Nadrowski. The cooperative will be the first in Poland to produce milk of this type, which, as Nadrowski explained, can last longer than pasteurized milk while keeping all its taste and nutritional value.

Currently SMO produces 30,000 liters of milk per day. The company hopes that the introduction of the new production line will increase the plant's capacity to 90,000 liters per day by the end of the year. The company's revenues are also expected to increase. Last year SMO had revenues of zł.212 million, this year it hopes that it will increase to zł.230 million.

The company has also invested in the modernization of its vehicles and infrastructure. Part of the money for the investment (zł.26 million) came from European Funds - particularly SAPARD and the Sectoral Operation Programme.