Current operations
Arla Foods is the fourth largest dairy company in the world with respect to milk volume, seventh with respect to turnover.[11] At the start of 2022, 8,492 farmers across Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg owned the cooperative.[12]
Arla Foods has many brands;[13] several minor brands and four strategic brands. The major and strategic brands are: Arla, Lurpak, Puck and Castello cheeses that are sold worldwide. The Arla Brand is both a co-operative brand and a brand across all product categories.[14] Puck is Arla brand equivalent in the MENA region, and Castello is a cheese brand including blue cheese and yellow cheeses.[15][16]
Next to the four major brands, Arla also has a long-term strategic partnership with Starbucks to manufacture, distribute and market their RTD (ready to drink) coffee products for the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).[17]
In 2011 Arla Foods incorporated Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI), a former division, as an independent subsidiary. The company develops and manufactures milk-based ingredients, primarily functional and nutritional milk proteins, bioactive phospholipids, minerals, permeate and lactose for the food industry.
The 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 March 2011, Arla Foods and DMK formed the joint venture company ArNoCo GmbH & Co. KG, to produce whey proteins for the food industry. In February 2018, Arla Foods announced its plans to invest £70 million in the UK, as part of its strategy to secure long-term opportunities for its farmers across Europe.[18] In October 2019, Arla Foods has invested an estimated €50 million (US$55 million) in a cheese production site in Bahrain. By 2025, Arla expects to increase annual production in Bahrain to more than 100,000 tons under its Puck, Arla, Dano, Kraft and Private Label brands.[19]
2006 boycott
Arla's sales were seriously affected by a two-month long boycott of Danish products in the Middle East in 2006.[20] Anger among Muslims over satirical cartoons of Prophet Muhammad published in Denmark was the initial cause.
When the Danish government refused to condemn the cartoons or meet with eleven ambassadors from Muslim nations, a boycott of Danish products was organised, starting in Saudi Arabia and spreading across the Middle East. The Middle East is Arla's largest market outside of Europe.
On 3 February 2006, the company said that sales in the Middle East dried up completely, costing the company US$2 million a day.[21] Soon after the boycott hit Arla's sales, the Danish government met with Muslim ambassadors and the newspaper issued an apology. Despite this, the boycott continued unabated for two months.
In March 2006, Arla took out full page advertising in Saudi Arabia, apologising for the cartoons and indicating Arla's respect for Islam in the country. This caused controversy in Denmark, where women's organisations and some politicians criticised Arla, and called on Danish women to boycott Arla's products in Denmark. In April 2006, the company said that its products were being placed back in shops in the Middle East.[22]
