Australian Arla Foods JV to build on 'decades of success' Down Under
As well as imported Arla products, the joint venture, Arla Foods Mayer Australia, will market, sell, and distribute specialty dairy products from third-party producers in Europe and Australia.
Arla, owned by around 13,500 dairy farmers in Denmark, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, will hold a majority 51% stake in Arla Foods Mayer Australia.
Trading at the Sydney-based joint venture will begin on May 4 2015.
Sydney and Melbourne-based F Mayer Imports, which will control the remaining 49% stake in Arla Foods Mayer Australia, already imports Castello cheese and Lurpak butter produced by Arla.
It has been Arla's distributor of choice in Australia for 30 of the 35 years Castello cheese has been sold Down Under.
"Decades of success"
Hoping to build on these "decades of success", Arla has challenged itself to boost Australian revenue from 200m DKK (US$31m, €27m) to 1bn DKK (US$153m, €134m) by 2020.
"Castello has been sold in Australia for more than 35 years and our partners, F Mayer, has been sourcing specialty cheese from all the great cheese countries in the world for decades, so we have a good foundation to build on," said Lars Eggers, Arla's managing director in Australia.
"Now we aim to introduce other exciting cheeses to the market, and we cannot wait to get started."
Despite "low growth rates" across the Australian dairy sector, Eggers, who will become general manage of Arla Foods Mayer Australia, insisted the market for specialty cheese "is lively and growing."
"Australians want to be inspired by quality foods, including artisan cheese, and the focus on food inspiration and a rich food culture is clearly on the rise. We believe we have the products to tap into that movement," said Eggers.
