Tetra Pak (tetrapak.com), the world leader in food processing and packaging solutions, has completed the acquisition of Polish company Obram S.A., a leading provider of cheese technology solutions and equipment in Poland, Russia, Belarus and many parts of Eastern Europe.

Since it was established in 1976, Obram has built a strong reputation for delivering high quality production solutions for fresh cheese, cottage cheese and semi-hard cheese applications, including mould handling and brining.

“The addition of Obram to the Tetra Pak Group will strengthen our portfolio and broaden our capability in the rapidly-expanding cheese sector, enabling us to be even more versatile to the needs of our customers. It complements our existing business extremely well,” Tim High, executive vice president of Tetra Pak Processing Systems said.

According to the Agricultural Outlook, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization, world cheese consumption will grow by 16% over the next decade. As consumers become more health conscious, the popularity of fresh cheese, and lighter soft cheese, is expected to increase.

Between 2013 and 2014, soft cheese accounted for 50% of absolute value growth of the total global cheese market¹, driven by product innovation and increased penetration. 

“This acquisition will enhance our ability to help customers capture these opportunities, particularly in places like Central America, South America and India, where consumer demand for fresh cheese is growing at a tremendous pace,” says High. “Obram’s automated solutions provide a higher quality, more efficient alternative to the manual or semi-automated installations that are still widely used.”

Obram currently employs around 280 people, the majority of whom are based at one of the company’s two production sites in Olsztyn Poland. 

Zbigniew Raczy?ski, president and CEO of Obram says, “From an Obram perspective, this move is full of potential: it will help us to grow our business through Tetra Pak’s global sales channels, while allowing us to provide a broader range of products and services to our existing customers – everything from filtration and whey treatment to technical support and parts.”