The top 20 dairy companies reached that combined revenue as consolidation accelerates and firms trade diversification for focused category leadership.
The world’s 20 largest dairy companies grew combined turnover 5.4% to $267 billion in 2025, driven by a wave of mergers, acquisitions and repositioning that is reshaping the global dairy industry, per RaboResearch’s Global Dairy Top 20, Dairy Herd reports.
Lactalis, Arla-DMK and specialization
Lactalis stayed the world’s largest dairy company with turnover over $40 billion, widening its lead over Nestlé to more than $16 billion after buying Fonterra’s Mainland consumer business (~$3.4bn) and General Mills’ US yogurt business (~$1.4bn; Yoplait, Go-Gurt, Oui).
The Arla Foods–DMK merger (completed 1 June 2026) created Europe’s largest dairy co-op — ~11,200 farmer-owners, 28,800 employees, a 19.4-billion-kg milk pool and pro forma revenue over €20bn ($23bn) — vaulting it to No. 4.
«We have seen a broader trend toward consolidation among dairy cooperatives seeking scale», said RaboResearch’s Lucas Fuess.
Meanwhile Fonterra sold Mainland to sharpen its ingredients and foodservice focus (dropping from 7th to 10th), and Unilever spun off its ice cream arm as The Magnum Ice Cream Co. (IPO valued at $9.1bn), which debuted at No. 11; Emmi entered at No. 19.
Nestlé, China and value creation
Nestlé’s milk and ice cream segment fell to CHF 9.7bn (from 10.4bn), and it plans to sell its remaining ice cream business (~$1.1bn) to Froneri.
China’s Yili (No. 6) and Mengniu (No. 9) are navigating a maturing market, shifting from volume to premiumization.
Danone (No. 5) posted 3.5% like-for-like growth in dairy/plant-based and 7.4% in specialized nutrition, well placed for the protein trend via yogurt, skyr and quark.
DFA held 3rd despite US milk prices ~6% lower.
On the outlook, EU milk prices fell 17.9% year to date through July 2026 (vs 6.5% in the US and 1.5% in China), so European firms may face more turnover pressure.
Top five by turnover:
| # | Company (country) | Turnover |
| 1 | Lactalis (France) | 40,2 billion $ |
| 2 | Nestlé (Switzerland) | 23,7 billion $ |
| 3 | Dairy Farmers of America (U.S.) | 23,1 billion $ |
| 4 | Arla Foods (Denmark) | 23,0 billion $ |
| 5 | Danone (France) | 21,6 billion $ |
Source: Dairy Herd
