Norwegian Red Cow Fresh Milk is available in selected supermarkets and on major e-commerce platforms. Produced from Norwegian Red crossbred cows in China, the chilled milk has a minimum seven-day shelf life.
For New Hope, the product offers another way to stand out in China’s competitive dairy market. For Geno, the partnership provides an opportunity to show how cattle genetics can influence not only milk quality but also herd health, fertility, and production efficiency.
“We are developing a breeding programme that focuses not only on milk production but also on health and fertility. It is a balanced breeding concept,” said Ton van de Goor, vice-president of international sales at Geno.
The company believes these traits can help dairy producers improve herd performance and manage costs, while creating differentiated milk products for consumers.
Meeting the needs of Chinese consumers
Taste, freshness and product variety are among the considerations shaping New Hope Dairy’s Norwegian Red Milk offering.
The milk is sold chilled, while room-temperature milk offers another format for consumers. Norwegian Red genetics could also support a wider range of dairy products, including yoghurt and cheese, providing opportunities to diversify the product line.
Taste is also a factor behind New Hope’s decision to introduce the breed.
“Norwegian Red Milk also has a relatively high fat content and, in our view, a slightly sweeter taste. We think that sweetness is attractive to Asian consumers, including those in China,” van de Goor said.
New Hope Dairy already offered Jersey milk but saw Norwegian Red as another way to distinguish its portfolio, he added. The company believed the breed’s taste characteristics and genetics could help create a differentiated product in a crowded market.
Geno also sees potential in China’s efforts to encourage dairy consumption among a wider range of age groups.
“New Hope wanted a new Norwegian Red product line partly because China has a wide range of dairy products and the government is encouraging people to consume more dairy for health reasons – not only young children, but also older people. There have been campaigns promoting the benefits of dairy consumption, which we see as a positive sign,” said Els Olsen, Geno’s global marketing and communications manager.
Olsen added that Chinese consumers tend to associate Norwegian products with premium quality, cleanliness, nature, and animal welfare, which she said aligns with Geno’s international positioning.
“Geno has had health certification for its animals since the 1970s, and we emphasise animal health and responsible breeding,” she said.
New Hope also saw an opportunity to differentiate its offering from an industry in which black-and-white Holstein cattle are widely used, van de Goor said.
“New Hope Dairy saw that consumers might be willing to pay more for a product that was different from what it already offered,” he added.
A value-adding proposition
Geno’s commercial argument extends beyond milk characteristics to the economics of dairy production. It advocates assessing cattle genetics across the production system, including feed requirements, milk composition, and veterinary costs.
Feed accounts for roughly 70% of farm costs, according to van de Goor. Norwegian Red cattle combine health and fertility with milk production, he said, allowing farmers to balance output with the desired fat and protein content.
“More milk alone is not necessarily better if fat and protein levels are too low; the aim is to balance volume with fat and protein content,” he said.
Geno works with New Hope’s management team on animal management and feeding practices. Grass and hay quality can vary between fields and over time, requiring farmers to adjust feed rations regularly to maintain performance, van de Goor added.
Body weight can also affect feed requirements. A cow weighing 100kg less than another animal producing the same volume of milk would generally require less feed to maintain its body weight although actual savings depend on factors such as diet and production conditions.
Van de Goor said the difference could become significant across a herd of 50,000 animals, where small per-animal savings could accumulate into substantial reductions in feed requirements.
Olsen added that Geno’s long-term breeding focus on health and resilience, alongside Norway’s preventative animal-health practices and restrictions on routine antibiotic use, can help reduce the need for antibiotics and other medication, according to the company.
“Our position is that Norwegian Red cattle tend to be healthy and resilient, and that can affect farm management and veterinary costs. If fewer animals become ill, farmers may need less veterinary intervention and spend less on treatment,” she said.
These potential savings are central to Geno’s argument that genetics should be evaluated on their overall contribution to production costs, rather than on their initial price alone.
Van de Goor said this approach aligns with the emphasis on cost-efficient production among many Chinese dairy businesses.
“One thing I like about China is its focus on cost-efficient production. In Norway, farms are relatively small and farmers may select animals partly based on their appearance and conformation. In China, the focus is more on how to produce efficiently while also making a product for which consumers are willing to pay a premium,” he said.
“The key is the cost of production, particularly the cost of producing a litre of milk. Premium genetics may cost more initially, but they can reduce veterinary costs, the need for antibiotics and feed costs. So although the input – the genetics – may be more expensive, the overall cost of producing milk may be lower.”
For New Hope, this links the production and consumer propositions: more efficient milk production could support a differentiated premium product, provided the anticipated cost savings materialise and consumers are willing to pay more.
Geno eyes wider Asian opportunities
Geno sees Asia as a long-term growth opportunity but is not prioritising markets in a fixed sequence. It is looking for committed local partners that understand the breed’s value and can collect reliable production data, van de Goor said.
Indonesia and Thailand are among the potential opportunities he identified. In Indonesia, he pointed to growing dairy demand and government efforts to encourage consumption.
Annual per-capita dairy consumption is roughly 400 litres in northern Europe, said van de Goor, compared with around 35 litres in China’s cities and about half that in rural areas, as an indication of potential room for growth.
“We believe Norwegian Reds can offer differentiation in both production and the consumer product, and there are opportunities across Asia over the coming decades,” he said.
Beyond fresh milk, Geno sees potential to develop products including room-temperature milk, yoghurt, cheese, and butter. Longer shelf life could ease distribution challenges, while New Hope is currently focused mainly on milk and yoghurt for its Norwegian Red line, Olsen said.
She also cited the use of Norwegian Red genetics in Parmigiano Reggiano production in Italy and pointed to Tine’s dairy exports to parts of Asia as an indication of existing market interest in Norwegian dairy products.
Together, these opportunities could broaden the scope for Geno to apply its breeding approach across dairy categories and markets, beyond its existing partnership with New Hope in China.
