Higher milk prices lift sales at Arla

Bottling plant at Arla Foods, Stourton, Leeds.

Arla, one of the world’s biggest dairy companies, said it delivered a 27.4 per cent increase in the pre-paid milk price to its owners last year.

Peder Tuborgh, chief executive of Arla, said: “We delivered a strong performance built on the good balance of brands, categories, and geographies.

“Most importantly, this enabled us to pay out significantly higher milk prices to our farmer owners.”

Last year was a volatile one for global milk prices characterised by significant shifts in market prices, which supported an increase in sales prices of £880m, it said.

The GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) benchmark milk index showed prices are up around 65 per cent since February last year.

This year’s sales are expected to be in the range of £8.82bn-£9.26 compared with the £9.09bn achieved in 2017 - an 8 per cent increase from 2016.

Last month, Arla said it aims to increase its investments this year by almost 60 per cent to meet growing global demand for dairy products and consumers’ shift to healthier options.

The firm - owned by 11,200 farmers in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium -is competing with food giants such as Danone and Nestle.

“We welcome an even more consumer-driven dairy market, where inclusiveness with the whole value chain and holistic responsibility will be more important than ever. As a farmer-owned dairy company we must meet these demands by being transparent and using the tools we have in our quality assurance programme Arlagården, to bring consumers and customers closer to Arla,” Mr Tuborgh.