Four of Germany’s largest dairies plan a merger that will put a German organisation among the top five European processors for the first time.
By June this year the aim is to launch a new Nordmilch organisation consisting of the present creamery of that name (1.781 million tonnes milk annually), MZO (1.369 million tonnes), Bremerland Nordheide (519,000 tonnes) and Hansano Milchhof (356,000 tonnes).
The resulting organisation will collect milk from some 14,000 farmers in an area covering most of northern Germany and will replace the co- operative Humana Milchunion (the recent fusion of Westmilch and Milchwerke Westfalen) as the top milk collector/processor in the country. Expected annual turnover from the new Nordmilch is