Indulac to invest $11.8M to renovate milk processing plant
Industrias Lecheras de Puerto Rico (Indulac, in Spanish) will invest $11.8 million to set off its Capital Resiliency and Improvements Project, government and company officials announced.
A portion of the financing, $4.7 million, comes from the Puerto Rico Housing Department’s Investment Portfolio for Growth (IPG) Program and will help the company renovate and modernize the milk processing plant by improving its capacity to process and supply locally produced dairy products.
In addition, the purchase and installation of equipment will be made possible, including a Tetra machine, palletizer, separator, pasteurizer, and steam line.
Puerto Rico Housing Secretary William Rodríguez said the dairy industry “is one of the key drivers of the local economy, so every penny in its expansion will translate into sustained performance for the people with the ability to create new workspaces. The recovery funds are there to meet several needs, and now we’re investing in the expansion of our island’s economy.”
The new equipment will have the capacity to process other products with higher viscosity, limiting the dependence on exports while increasing local production. In addition, this new technology will reduce energy and water consumption by 30%, while reducing waste by 20% and increasing the quality of packaging to offer a greater variety of product sizes to consumers.
In addition, it will address market trends in the dairy industry regarding the consumption of ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk production, a product identified as essential by the Puerto Rico Department of Health. It will also allow doubling the production of processed milk from 4,000 to 8,000 quarts per hour, officials said.
The IPG program provides favorable terms for the development of these types of projects that promote economic growth, such as a 2% interest rate and the possibility that half of the loan can be forgiven, subject to compliance with the program’s requirements. In addition, Puerto Rico Farm Credit will finance another $4.4 million for the renovation project.
“We hope to improve the efficiency and handling capacity of locally produced milk, add value, and continue to improve production performance for the farmer,” said Francisco Oramas, president of Indulac.
“These funds will be used for the development of Phase II of Indulac’s capital improvements. We also hope to be able to serve new emerging markets for differentiated products and serve the export market with better remuneration for the farmer. With these new initiatives we propose to generate and retain 20 direct jobs.”
The Cooperativa de Productores de Leche (COOPPLE, in Spanish), Indulac’s parent company, groups more than 70% of the cattle farmers in Puerto Rico.
