The dairy industry involves the processing of raw milk into products such as consumption milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, condensed milk, powdered milk, and ice cream for consumers, using processes such as refrigeration, pasteurization, and homogenization. In the Nordic countries, the dairy market generated approximately
in 2024. Although more and more people are switching to
and the market is constantly growing, according to the Statista Consumer Market Outlook, the dairy market will also continue to grow. In the Nordics, it is estimated to be worth nearly 24 billion U.S. dollars by 2029. Striking to see is that the largest share of the total revenue is not achieved with milk, but
: cheese sales amounted to roughly six billion U.S. dollars in 2023, compared to around three billion U.S. dollars for milk.
Global giant: Arla Foods
When looking at the
world's top dairy corporations based on revenue,
Arla Foods was among the top ten companies in 2022. Arla Foods is a cooperative founded in 2000 from the merger between the Swedish company Arla and the Danish company MD Foods and controls the dairy market in the Nordic countries. Arla Foods consists of three major brands: Arla, Lurpak, and Castello. The Arla brand offers a range of dairy products, including a lactose-free range, while Lurpak is a butter product, and Castello covers a variety of cheese products. Other dairy companies in the Nordic countries are significantly smaller, such as Norway's largest dairy product cooperative TINE. This company reached an
operating revenue of roughly 27 billion Norwegian kroner in 2023.
Trend: organic milk or plant-based alternatives?
With the greater presence of organic foods in supermarkets, many consumers are now choosing organic milk over regular milk. This trend can also be seen in the Nordics. Over the last few years up to 2019, the production volume of organic milk increased steadily in both
Denmark and
Sweden. 2020 and 2021 broke that trend, as the production volume fell slightly again. On the one hand, this may be due to the corona pandemic - people paid more attention to their expenses, and some production companies were restricted in their work due to lockdowns and special regulations. Since 2022, however, sales have been increasing again in Denmark. On the other hand, as already mentioned in the introduction, interest in plant-based milk alternatives is increasing. For example, from 2020 to 2023, overall
sales of plant-based beverages were higher than ever in Denmark.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no
liability for the information given being complete or correct.
Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date
data than referenced in the text.
