Top 20 World Dairy Companies Revealed

Rabobank Report Presents the ‘Who’s Who of Dairy’

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Rabobank just released the results of a survey that examined the world’s largest dairy companies which also highlighted some of the key trends in the dairy industry. The measure utilized was ranking the dairy company by product turnover.

It comes as no surprise that the top spots are held by companies in the developed world. Leading the way in the top two spots were Nestle and Danone.

One of the most notable shifts in ranking is the continual rise of Lactalis. Showing a steady gain through the acquisition of Parmalat and Skanemejerier, Lactalis has moved from fourth the third place respectively. But the biggest strides were made by Chinese companies.  The Chinese companies have made big inroads by first gaining top 20 statuses in 2010 and moving up four places to 15th place in the 2012 report.

Top 20 World Dairy Companies

1.    Nestlé
2.    Danone
3.    Lactalis
4.    Fonterra
5.    FrieslandCampina
6.    Dairy Farmers of America
7.    Dean Foods
8.    Arla Foods
9.    Kraft Foods
10.    Meiji
11.    Unilever*
12.    Saputo
13.    DMK
14.    Sodiaal*
15.    Yili
16.    Mengniu
17.    Bongrain
18.    Schreiber Foods*
19.    Müller
20.    Land O’Lakes

The shifting dynamics between the top dairy company leaders will become more notable in the years to come as emerging markets such as China, South East Asia, India and Latin America are predicted to experience steady sales growth. The most progressive dairy company leaders have already started to strategically position themselves in order to survive in the changing marketplace. The report predicts that mergers and acquisitions will become a common move for these companies.