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Truly Grass Fed from Glanbia's position has a nice story to it, in that the company believes there is an opportunity in the market in the US outside of Kerrygold, but Ornua fundamentally disagrees with this, CEO John Jordan has said.
In response to a question from the Irish Farmers Journal at the ICOS national conference on Thursday, Jordan said it has the potential to erode value to Ireland's dairy industry.
"Truly Grass Fed from Glanbia's position has a very nice story to it - in terms of they believe there is an opportunity in the [US] market outside of the Kerrygold brand.
"We would fundamentally disagree with that. The fact is, despite how that story is constructed, Truly Grass Fed is in the mainstream retailers. It's on the shelf beside Kerrygold, next to it and it is retailing at a discount to Kerrygold.
"Our concern is that that is going to erode value for the Irish dairy industry and for Irish farmers."
Pat Duffy, chair of Aurivo, then asked Jordan how Ornua would deal with Truly Grass Fed from a corporate governance point of view.
Jordan replied: "There is a commercial challenge to Ornua, but we are confident in our strategy and the team in marketing. The issue of governance is one for the board of Ornua, which I only report to, to deal with."
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