MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Glanbia sets foot in Uruguay.

Glanbia, the Irish dairy consortium and one of the largest in the European Union signed in Montevideo a joint venture agreement with Uruguay's main dairy cooperative Conaprole to market produce in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Glanbia has an annual turnover of 2,6 billion US dollars and processes annually 3,7 billion litres of milk. It's considered the main dairy company in the United Kingdom with branches in Europe and the United States, where it has become the main cheese manufacturer in the northeast of the country.

Conaprole is Uruguay's main dairy cooperative with annual exports of over 200 million US dollars and is well established in Mercosur and other Latinamerican countries.

The joint venture named Conabia will begin targeting Mexico where a regional office will be established to operate in Central America and the Caribbean.

Conaproble already exports 20 million US dollars, mainly cheese, to Mexico and the objective is to reach 50 million US dollars in the next couple of years.

Once the new company is well established Conabia will be exploring the African market.

Glanbia's CEO Donald Leham said the company began looking for a Latinamerican partner in 1999, "with the purpose of extending our successful business from Ireland, United Kingdom, European Union and United States to Latinamerica".

"We needed as partners a well established company, with a significant presence in the area, that understood Latinamerica and had competent staff and expertise, and we finally chose Conaprole from Uruguay", stressed Mr. Leham.