Arla to shed 250 jobs

The Scandinavian dairy cooperative Arla is to shed 250 jobs around the world by the end of the year as it strives to become more competitive.

This measure, as well as reduced spending on market research and lowing procurement costs on packaging and other materials, is expected to reduce Arla’s annual cost by DKK 500 million (€67 million).

This may not be the last restructuring Arla undertakes during the year. The management aims to continue to assess how it can make Arla’s administration more efficient. 

Arla also said that it will continue to analyse its global production set-up to identify the potential for similar efficiency measures within the production chain.

“Our turnover is growing, and that growth will continue,” said Peder Tuborgh, Arla CEO. “We have a responsibility towards all of our cooperative owners and other dairy farmers, who invest their milk and their money in Arla, to make sure that our turnover grows significantly faster than our cost.”

“Our international competitors are able to turn ideas into action quicker than before and, therefore, Arla needs a more simple and structured way of working.” 

Arla wants to play a leading role in the current consolidation of the European dairy industry, and points out that a leading position requires that it is able to attract and retain raw milk in sufficient volumes, and a prerequisite for this is to deliver a competitive milk price to its cooperative owners.