Valio is set to close its fava-beans factory, recently acquired from Raisio, and will transfer production to another facility.
The group acquired the plant in Kauhava from its Finnish counterpart Raisio earlier this year alongside the Härkis and Beanit plant-protein brands.
Valio anticipates the Kauhava site will close by the end of this year. This strategic move to shift production to Joensuu aims to enhance “production efficiency and profitability.”
All 11 employees at the Kauhava facility will face the closure, according to Valio.
“With the planned relocation of production, we are continuing to pursue production efficiency and profitability improvements as well as maintaining flexibility in our operations in line with our strategy,” stated Juha Penttilä, Valio’s executive vice president for operations. He emphasized that, “In Joensuu, we can leverage our long-standing expertise in producing innovative plant-based products.”
Penttilä also mentioned that the company will seek to offer jobs to the 11 affected staff at other company sites.
Furthermore, Valio indicated that production of plant-based products at its Vantaa factory will also transition to Joensuu over the “next few years.”
“This allows us to utilize existing knowledge and equipment, and to achieve long-term synergies, including with the production currently overseen at the Kauhava plant,” noted Penttilä.
When Raisio announced the sale of the Härkis and Beanit brands in February, it revealed that the assets generated net sales of €4.5m ($5.2m today) in 2024, a decline from €5.5m in 2023, with a “comparable” EBIT loss of €2.6m.
Raisio previously acquired Verso, the holding company for those brands, from Norway’s Kavli in 2021.
The Joensuu factory currently employs around 200 people and produces roughly a third of Valio’s cheeses, equating to about 25 million kilos annually of cheese blocks, consumer-packaged cheeses, and cream cheeses, as per Valio’s statement.
The main products produced at Joensuu include Valio Polar cheeses, Valio Salaneuvos cheeses, and Valio Viola cream cheeses, in addition to milk powders.
Beginning by year-end, the facility will start manufacturing cheese slices from the Vantaa factory, with plans to produce the grated cheese brand MiFU and Oddlygood Veggie products in the future, Valio added.
Valio, which is owned by approximately 3,200 Finnish dairy farms, employs a workforce of 4,200, of which 3,600 are based in Finland.