In early December, Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI) commissioned a new packing plant in Bangladesh for Dano milk powder.

Mutual, AFI’s local distributor and packer, invested in the plant following a request from AFI which has seen sales of the market leading brand, Dano, quadruple in Bangladesh over the past four years. The country has 140 million inhabitants.

“Focusing on one site offers greater quality, flexibility and efficiency and allows us to rapidly adjust our procedures to the market’s requirements,” says AFI Sales Director Jais Valeur.

“We focus on the retail sector in general and wish to grow our branded milk powder business as well as add value to our milk powder for branded products,” adds Jais Valeur. “With the low dollar, we’re forced to look at how we can limit our exposure and we can do so by relocating some of our added value processing to a local site, thus reducing wage costs.”

The packing plant employs 40 people with another 10 to come. Arla Foods has had a presence in Bangladesh for over 40 years.

Mutual invested DKK 10 million in the plant which can pack approx. 10,000 tons milk powder per year. AFI’s turnover within retail branded products totals DKK 1 billion. AFI sells 5-6,000 tons milk powder in Bangladesh on an annual basis. The country is AFI’s second largest market for branded milk powder.



The packing plant was opened by the Danish Ambassador in Bangladesh. The Bengali Minister for Trade was present at the evening reception.