KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd will invest RM340 million to develop a new dairy manufacturing hub in Bandar Baru Enstek, Negri Sembilan, starting next year till 2025.

Managing director Tarang Gupta said the development of the 13.04-hectare industrial land which was acquired this year would enable the company to produce nutritional products with the added scalable capacity to manufacture other innovative variations in the future, driven by consumer trends and occasions.

"The new plant will also increase Negri Sembilan’s competitiveness as a magnet for new investments and further help create new spin-off economic benefits to the local economy as well as to the vendors,” he said in a statement today, adding that the entire exercise would be funded by internal funds.

The substantial capital expenditure, he said, was to support the group’s ambitious plans for Malaysia by growing milk consumption in the country to address the alarming rise of non-communicable diseases such as obesity and stunted growth.

"We want to partner with the government to grow this critical sector as dairy is a very important source of nutrients for daily consumption.

"Dutch Lady has the capacity and experience to assist the government in two major areas, namely food security and building up domestic food supplies, especially in the current pandemic era,” he said.

Tarang opined that the new plant could take a step forward in securing food requirements in Malaysia as the pandemic had heightened the need for domestic food supplies and to lessen dependency on food imports. — Bernama