Valio has announced plans to close two food and drinks manufacturing facilities in Finland.
One of these, located in the south-western coastal city of Turku, processes the company’s plant-based cooking and snacks range under the Oddlygood brand.
The other, in the Pitäjänmäki district near Helsinki, makes juices, berry soups and glogg (a type of mulled wine).
Operations at the affected sites are to be transferred to Valio’s plant in Riihimäki in the south of the country.
The Riihimäki site processes Valio’s Oddlygood plant-based snacks and dairy goods such as cream, milk, buttercream and yogurts.
The closures of the Pitäjänmäki and Turku factories is expected to happen by “the first half of 2026 at the earliest”, the company said in a statement.
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By GlobalData
Explaining the rationale behind the move, the business cited “production and economic reasons”, adding that shutting the two sites would “improve production efficiency and profitability”.
A total of 92 employees could be affected by “possible headcount reductions” following the move, Valio said.
Some 66 people are employed at the Pitäjänmäki factory, while 26 work at Turku.
Valio only acquired the Turku plant last October, when it purchased the plant-based label Planti from Norwegian food business, Kavli Holding.
Juha Penttilä, Valio’s executive vice president of operations said: “In addition to modern production machinery, the Riihimäki plant has paid careful attention to issues such as environmental friendliness and energy and water efficiency.
“Valio has strongly developed the Riihimäki plant’s expertise in plant-based products in recent years.”
Around 433 people work at the Riihimäki location, which is comprised of “several factory buildings and production lines”.
Penttilä added: “Through profitable business operations, we ensure the vitality of our owners, i.e. the dairy farms, and we secure the continuity of Finnish food production. That enables us in the long run to also create jobs and livelihoods around Finland… The personnel at both production plants have done a good job. Change negotiations involving headcount reductions are always unfortunate and we want to handle it in the best way possible from the people perspective.”
At the start of this year, the company announced plans to initiate “change negotiations” with 1,170 employees as part of a business restructure. Some 130 jobs were said to be at risk at the time.
Those discussions came to a close last month, Valio confirmed. A total of 89 jobs are now expected to go in the reshuffle, and 114 employees will also see changes to “the job descriptions and job content” of their roles.
Valio has a total of 4,300 employees, 3,700 of which work in Finland. It also operates two dairy plants in Estonia, and runs subsidiary units in Sweden, the US and China.
