French food group Danone is to invest €8.5m (US$9.3m) in its Castelo Branco plant, in central Portugal.

The investment is to be spent on modernisation of the plant and the construction of a new production line for drinking yoghurt, according to Danone Portugal executive Martinho Tojo.

The facility currently has a production capacity of 60,000 tonnes of yoghurt per year. It aims to produce 50,000 tonnes of yoghurt in 2003, of which 5,000 are to be exported, reported the Portuguese News Digest.