Whey protein

"We aim to double sales of powdered whey protein and become global market leader by 2015*. "

Why focus on whey protein?
Extracting protein from whey – the product left over from cheese production – is good business. Whey protein has many positive properties and various added value protein products from Arla Foods Ingredients are included in icecream, yogurt, infant formula, dietary supplements for sports people or the sick, bakery products, snacks and many other food products across the world.

Were are we today?
Whey from Arla’s cheese production in Denmark and Sweden is fully utilised and processed into a variety of whey protein products at the Denmark Protein Factory at Nr. Vium in Jutland. Some whey protein production also takes place at our part-owned companies, Afisa in Argentina and Biolac in Germany. We also have a partnership with the Norwegian dairy company Tine and with Euroserum in France for the production and sale of whey powder.

How will the targets be achieved?
The key is to improve access to whey because without the raw material we will fail to exploit the huge potential in the markets. One of Arla Foods Ingredients’ tasks is to focus on the United States, the world’s largest whey protein market, and the aim is to establish local production before 2015*. Arla Foods Ingredients, however, wants to access more whey in Europe and more partnerships are expected along the lines of those already in existence in Norway and France.

”Innovation continues to be an important part of the work aimed at developing new ingredients, which meet customers’ requirements and contribute to innovative foods.”

Facts:

• It is the proteins that are the most valuable while the whey contains primarily lactose. The lactose is dried and sold as ingredients to the bakery industry. A large proportion of the lactose in the whey is, however, still used for animal feed, but the aim is to develop more added value powder products that are more profitable.
• In the past, the by-product whey was dried and sold cheaply as animal feed. Today the proteins are extracted and processed into various ingredients that can give cakes a fine structure, make yoghurt creamy and give infant formula a high nutritional content. Through innovation and research, the by-product has become highly valuable.

Bulk – after all
First and foremost the strategy is about strong brands and added value products, but Arla Foods will also always produce and sell bulk products because we are a co-operative with a duty to receive Danish and Swedish dairy farmers’ milk. Consequently, bulk production is one way of using all the milk, even when milk sourcing is at its peak as, of course, it fluctuates during the year.

Trading that handles this business, is therefore an important part of our strategy. The aim is to have the most cost-effective production and sales organisation for whole milk powder and mozzarella.

* Note: The global economic recession has made it hard to achieve the ambitious targets of Arla’s "Strategy 2013". As a result, Arla has extended the deadline of the strategy to 2015.