Nordmilch and Humana union going ahead

Now only a veto from the monopolies watchdog can halt the merging of Germany’s two leading dairies Nordmilch and Humana Milchunion. Together, the prospective union will have 22 plants in northern and eastern Germany and, going by current totals, will process 6.6 billion kg milk annually with a turnover of some EUR3.6 billion.
With autumn earmarked for the merger, management has already made it clear that a new organisation name is to be established – although the strategy includes the retention of Nordmilch’s top brand Milram and Humana’s best-selling label in the east of the country: Osterland. The move should, according to the German Agricultural Society (DLG), help bring the number of individual dairies in the country down below 100 and will put the new partners at around place 12 in the world dairy rankings. First steps towards the union started in 2005 when Nordmilch and Humana cooperated in a processing plant at Altentreptow in north eastern Germany and continued during last year when they established the organisation Nord-Contor to handle marketing for much of their production.