Arla joins forces with major dairy importer to increase Aust business fivefold

Arla Foods has entered into a joint venture in a bid to increase its business in Australia fivefold and increase its annual revenue from Australia to 1 billion DKK by 2020. The company has joined forces with Australia’s largest cheese importer, F Mayer Imports, to form Arla Foods Mayer Australia Pty Ltd.

The new joint venture will market, sell and distribute imported and local specialty dairy products to the Australian market. The products will be Castello cheese, Lurpak butter and various Arla products, but the portfolio will also include specialty dairy products from third-party producers in Australia and Europe via F Mayer Imports.

All of Arla’s current and future business in Australia will be placed in the joint venture with F Mayer Imports, which has been Arla’s preferred distributor in the country for the last 30 years.

“Although the overall Australian dairy market is only seeing low growth rates, the market for specialty cheese is lively and growing. Australians want to be inspired by quality food, 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 Arla’s managing director in Australia, Lars Eggers, who will become the general manager of the new joint venture.

“We hope to contribute to the Australian dairy market by driving the specialty cheese category and by launching a series of products that already inspire consumers in many other parts of the world. Castello cheese has been sold in Australia for more than 35 years and our partner, 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. Now we aim to introduce other exciting cheeses to the market, and we cannot wait to get started.”

The joint venture will be effective from 4 May 2015 and will be headquartered in Sydney.