Princes boosts olive oil production

FOOD manufacturing group Princes is investing £6.4m in a new bottling line at it  olive oil production facility in south east London

The new high-speed line will boost capacity at the Belvedere site as well as reducing its environmental impact.

It will also allow Princes to produce lightweight plastic bottles on site – cutting road miles by 129,000 each year and reducing the amount of plastic used in olive oil packaging by 176 tonnes in the next financial year.

Princes, which is part of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp, employs 72 people at Belvedere.

The investment helps consolidate the group’s position as the UK’s largest supplier of edible oils and comes eight years after Princes formed a joint venture business with Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) to produce, sell and distribute olive and seed oil products across the UK and continental Europe.   

Ken Critchley, managing director of Princes, said: “The new line forms part of an ongoing programme of investment to ensure that all of our manufacturing sites remain leading facilities.

“As well as further driving efficiency, the move has created the capacity to ensure we can meet future growth trends and delivered significant environmental benefits.”