Muller and Land O’Lakes in world’s top 20 companies
Nestlé and Danone remain at the top of the table, but Lactalis (following acquisition of Parmalat) has moved from fourth to third, within striking distance of its fellow French rival Danone.
The biggest strides have been made by China’s Yili and Mengniu, ranked 15th and 16th.
But the headquarters of 17 of the 20 are in Europe, North America, or Japan, and in New Zealand in the case of fourth placed Fonterra.
According to Rabobank, this highlights a key dairy industry challenge, because the best sales growth is expected in emerging markets such as China, South East Asia, India and Latin America.
However, analysts at the bank say the big companies have been trying to tap into pockets of faster growth in their territories while acquiring products, brands and competencies in newer growth areas.
