New Players in the European Dairy Industry: The Market for Branded Dairy Products Available to Purchase

The current structure of the EC dairy industry will change over the next ten years. The small number of extremely powerful international players who concentrate on high‐value, high‐margin products will capitalize on their scale and marketing skills to attain a dominant position within the global market. The smaller nationally oriented concerns which have led a somewhat protected existence so far, will be forced to react as foreign competition increases. Predicts that concentration, specialization and targeted consumer marketing will be among the key factors of success for the European dairy industry in the year 2000. By then the industry structure will be split into three tiers comprising national, international and global companies. Only the most dynamic national businesses who adapt to the new market demands will survive. The losers will be those who do not understand the market, add little value to their basic products and who fail to anticipate and react to change.