Arla Foods
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| Agricultural cooperative | |
| Industry | Dairy |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Aarhus, Denmark |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Revenue | 63,114 Billion DKK(2013) |
| 1,413 Billion DKK(2010) | |
| 1,253 Billion DKK(2010) | |
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Number of employees
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18,112 (2013) |
| Website | http://arla.com |
Arla Foods is an international cooperative based in Aarhus, Denmark, and the largest producer of dairy products in Scandinavia. Arla Foods was formed as the result of a merger between the Swedish dairy cooperative Arla and the Danish dairy company MD Foods on 17 April 2000.
Arla Foods is the seventh largest dairy company in the world measured by turnover. Among the cooperative dairy companies Arla is the third largest in the world. At the start of 2010, 7,625 Danish and Swedish cooperative members owned the cooperative.
Arla Foods has three major brands: Arla,Lurpak and Castello cheeses that are sold worldwide. The Arla Brand is both a co-operative brand and a brand across all product categories. The Lurpak brand of butter and spreads is owned by the Danish Dairy Board, and Castello is a cheese brand including blue cheese and yellow cheeses. The name Arla derives from the same word as the English word "early" and is an archaic Swedish term for "early (in the morning)".
Arla Foods incorporates Arla Foods Ingredients, a former division established as an independent subsidiary in 2011. The company develops and manufactures milk-based ingredients, primarily functional and nutritional milk proteins, bioactive phospholipids, minerals, permeate and lactose for the food industry. Head office is located in Denmark.
Arla Foods Ingredients has one wholly owned production plant in Denmark, with joint venture production at facilities in Argentina and Germany. In early 2011, Arla Foods and DMK formed the joint venture company ArNoCo GmbH & Co. KG, to produce whey proteins for the food industry.
The Swedish "Arla ekonomisk förening" and the Danish "MD Foods" became one company, "Arla Foods amba" in 2000. The two dairy companies share a similar history:
History of Arla Foods in Sweden from 1881 to 1999
1881: The first co-operative dairy is established at Stora Arla Gård in Västmanland under the name of Arla Mejeriförening.
1915: Arla’s history begins when Landtmännens Mjölkförsäljningsförening is formed. The name is later changed to Mjölkcentralen (MC). Subsequent years see a substantial number of larger and smaller dairies merging with Mjölkcentralen and in connection with a number of mergers in the early 1970s, it is proposed that the company should have a new, common name.
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