A coat made from male chest hair has gone on sale for a hefty sum of £2,499 (€2,934).

Danone, owner of Activia yoghurt and Evian water, will spend about €325m to form a joint venture and invest in China’s biggest dairy producer to expand its brands in the most populous nation.

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The possibility of a merger between a southern Irish co-op and First Milk in the UK has been raised by Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers chairman David Cotton.

MORE than 180 anti-trust cases, 1,300 merger decisions, and 100 monitoring actions have been investigated by competition authorities in the EU food industry in seven years.

Scandinavian dairy group Arla Foods says it plans to merge with milk co-operatives in Germany and Britain.

MANY European dairy farmers believe their sons and daughters will be driven out of the industry by downward price pressure when the quota era ends in 2015.

NO Irish company has made it into the global dairy top-20 ranking compiled by Rabobank Group.

DAIRY co-op leaders have been told they must lead the way towards the restructuring of their industry, worth almost €12 billion in total sales.

THE Irish dairy industry, worth €2.5 billion in exports, was told yesterday it has some very difficult choices to make in order to compete with its competitors.

Scandinavian dairy group Arla Foods today said the boycott of its products in the Middle East sparked by the Prophet Mohammed cartoons had cost the company about €53.6m in 2006.

TWO dairy industry leaders have now identified surplus milk production as the root cause of difficulties in the industry in the EU.

TWO dairy industry leaders have now identified surplus milk production as the root cause of difficulties in the industry in the EU.

The company hurt worst by the boycott in many Muslim countries of Danish products by consumers angered over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed today said it hoped to confront the issue at a trade fair in Dubai.

Consumer boycotts of Danish goods in Muslim countries in protest of the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed are costing Denmark’s companies millions, and have raised fears of irreparable damage to trade ties.

THE boycott of Danish goods to protest against the publication of Prophet Mohammed caricatures is costing Danish businesses around €1.5m a day.

MUSLIM anger over a Danish newspaper’s decision to publish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed escalated yesterday, with the EU becoming embroiled in an increasingly angry row.

Arla Foods today warned that delays increasing the price paid by supermarkets for its products would hit profits in the first half of the year.

The European Union’s highest court today finally settled the fate of feta cheese, decreeing it as a traditional Greek product deserving protection throughout the 25-nation EU.

Potential blows to the profits of the UK’s heavyweight companies kept investors away from the London market today.

The London market lost sight of its recent milestones today as investors fretted over a warning from oil giant BP that storm damage may harm its profits.

Concerns over the margins achieved by UK insurers helped drag the FTSE 100 Index into negative territory today.

Worries about the margins achieved by UK insurers created a drag on the London market today.

Lurpak butter maker Arla Foods admitted today that it had lost the battle to protect its profits from rising utility bills.

The London market ended today back above the 5000 level after investors took heart from news about US interest rates.

The FTSE 100 Index racked up its fifth consecutive session of gains today to close at its highest level since mid-April.

The FTSE 100 Index continued its rally of recent days to hover close to the 4,900 barrier today.

Shares in British engineer Invensys jumped ahead today after the group stuck by hopes for its financial year and said four of its divisions were performing well.

BORD Bia’s new chief executive, Aidan Cotter exudes an air of Zen-like calm.

UK- based engineering group Invensys today posted a 39% fall in half-year profits, but insisted a shake-up had given it “a real sense of operational momentum”.

Profit takers pounced on blue-chip stocks today as a downbeat opening on Wall Street sparked a late sell-off on this side of the Atlantic.

The FTSE 100 Index followed the lead of other world markets to break through the 4600 barrier today.

The London market wrapped up a week of progress today by moving within touching distance of the 4500 barrier.

UK dairy group Robert Wiseman was celebrating its second major milk contract in as many days today after sealing a new deal with supermarket giant Tesco.