DSM Dalry vitamin plant wins £3.7 million funding

AN AYRSHIRE factory which is the only remaining producer of vitamin C in the western world is to receive £3.7 million in expansion funding from Scottish Enterprise.

The DSM site in Dalry, which employs around 330 people, has been awarded the regional selective assistance grant to fund a major investment in the factory.

It is not known how much the plant’s Dutch owners are planning to invest but a spokesman for the company said : “We are pleased to work alongside SE and the Scottish Government and welcome their support for our investment in more sustainable processes to further improve our efficiency and strengthen our competitive position”.

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Anne MacColl, chief executive of Scottish Executive’s international arm Scottish Development International, said DSM was the “kind of company we’re here to support.

“We know their importance to the local economy and to the local people they employ, and we’ll continue supporting them as they seek to consolidate and build on their unique position in the global marketplace.”

DSM concentrated production of vitamin C in Scotland in 1995 after ending its manufacture in the US. Most of the world’s vitamin C production takes place in China.

DSM’s origins were as a Dutch coal mining company founded in 1902 but it has since developed into a global life sciences and materials company. It employs 23,500, has annual net sales of around £7.6 billion and is listed on the NYSE Euronext exchange.

The Dalry site was established in 1958 to manufacture vitamin A. It serves as the head office for two other DSM sites in the UK at Heanor in Derbyshire and Belfast.