New Brazil Dairy Plant to Open

Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, and New Zealand’s Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. plan to open a dairy in Brazil in the first half of this year.

The companies will invest as much as 70 million reais ($39.5 million) in the plant, according to a statement sent from Nestle’s Brazil unit. The factory will be located in Palmeira das Missoes, in the Southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, and rank among Brazil’s five biggest dairies, Vevey, Switzerland-based Nestle said. Production capacity is projected at 1 million liters a day.

Nestle intends to double annual sales in Brazil by 2011 from 11 billion reais in 2006. The investments will boost yearly production by 50 percent. Fonterra, based in Auckland, is the world’s largest exporter of dairy products.