Cheese and global expansion

I spent my holiday season personally ensuring that French, Dutch and English cheese makers sold products. I did this by buying and eating loads of it, including the delightful Bermondsey hard-pressed cheese, which is made in a 100-year old vat under the arches near London Bridge. I always marvel at the level of innovation for cheese here in the UK, and like telling people about the 700 different types of cheese made on what is not the biggest island in the world. They are always surprised.

I am now back at work this week. And the good news is, a lot of other people are back at work, and moving into new positions here in the dairy world. Moves from Fonterra and Hochdorf, plus a merger in the US. There is never a quiet week and there is much to do.

I think another exciting prospect is the news that places like Oman and Zimbabwe are seeing activity on building or rebuilding their dairy industries up. As the established dairy countries see their number of farmers stabilise or drop, these countries are seeing more interest in the jobs of dairy processing. I think it will add another string to the industry’s bow, with new products and new consumers for the products.

As Kobus Mulder, dairy consultant in South Africa keeps pointing out, Africa is a 54-country continent with around 1.2 billion of young consumers under 21, who are eager to try new things and to enjoy dairy products such as cheese. There are 200 million people in southern Africa who need dairy products, and there is growth of retail and supermarkets in those countries. “Emerging and developing countries are the place to be for dairy operators,” he recently told the audience at the European Dairy Association’s conference. “There are people living there who need to eat.”