The reason for the closures is that "both are operating well below full utilisation", according to Müller. The company said it worked closely with employees and their representatives, farmers, farming groups, and political representatives during the consultation period before arriving at this decision.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Müller said it will wind down operations at its Aberdeen dairy "as soon as is reasonably practical", expected to be mid-June. Operations at East Kilbride dairy will continue for the next 18-24 months to allow time to transfer production lines across to its dairy factory at Bellshill, where the company has confirmed that it will invest £15m to create Scotland’s largest fresh milk and ingredients centre of excellence.

The investment over the next three years will include a new cream filling hall, high speed production lines, expansion of site processing capabilities and investment in site infrastructure to modernise the dairy and improve efficiencies and competitiveness, whilst giving the dairy the capability to broaden the range of products it is able to make with milk produced by Scottish farmers.

Andrew McInnes, managing director of Müller Milk & Ingredients said that by investing in Bellshill, they will be better able to optimise the value in the milk they buy from dairy farmers.

"We recognise that this change will affect our colleagues at both sites and farmers in the North East but this announcement is a key step towards building a sustainable, diverse and future focused dairy business in Scotland and the UK

"Unfortunately the status quo was not sustainable within our Scottish dairy network, with both Aberdeen and East Kilbride dairies operating well-below capacity. By investing in Bellshill we will be better able to optimise the value in the milk we buy from dairy farmers.”

"Wherever possible we will offer employees the opportunity to relocate within our network. We will support those who do not wish to do so or for whom there are no roles within our business and we have asked local agencies to work with us in this regard," he said.

Continue supply

Müller has agreed to offer all 43 farmers supplying the Aberdeen dairy the opportunity to continue supplying the business if they wish to do so, conditional to a 1.75ppl charge which reflects the cost of transporting the milk they produce from Aberdeen to Bellshill for processing.

Farmers who don’t wish to continue supplying Müller will avoid this transport charge and their contracts will terminate on expiry of 12 months’ notice, giving them time to make alternative arrangements for their milk production.

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