The Danish dairy industry consists of the international dairy group Arla Foods and 37 smaller dairy companies, together processing 4.5 billion kg milk from a total of 60 production plants in Denmark.

Cooperatively owned by Danish and Swedish milk producers, Arla Foods is Europe’s largest dairy group. In 2006 the group processed more than 91% of the Danish and 66% of the Swedish milk pool. Besides, it runs dairy production in a number of other countries with Arla UK plc as its biggest business.

The 32 remaining Danish dairies are evenly distributed between cooperatively and privately owned businesses. The small dairies typically specialise in various product areas within cheese, butter and liquid milk production. A large part of their production is exported by specialised exporters.

The value of all Danish dairy exports totals EUR 1.7 billion annually. The industry accounts for approx. 8,000 jobs. The domestic market is to a large extent a market for domestic dairy production, although imported cheese and yoghurt now account for approx. 25% and 20%, respectively, of the total domestic consumption. The retail chains have not been successful in introducing German milk to the Danish consumers, and the market share of foreign milk remains modest.

Like the processing sector, the Danish milk producers have seen tremendous structural change, with production now resting on few, large farms. In 2006 approx. 5,400 dairy farmers each held an average of 97 cows and a milk quota of 834,000 kg. This places the Danish dairy farmers among the largest and most modern in Europe. More than half the cows live in new loose housing facilities.

Structural development of primary sector, 1965-2007/8

	1965	1975	1985	1995	2006	Prognosis 2007/8
No of herds	135,700	63,352	31,773	14,300	5,400	4,900
No of cows	1,349,200	1,094,248	896,358	683,000	555,000	535,000
Cows per herd	10	17	28	48	97	106
Average yield, kg	3,800	4,300	5,600	6,800	8,778	9,000

Structural development of processing sector, 1955-2005

For detailed information on the dairy sector, consult our Danish dairies, Policies or Facts & figures sections.

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