With its impressive list of components milk is probably the richest and most nutritious raw material available to the food and feed industry. It offers a wide range of proteins with different properties, has a complex fatty acid composition, is rich in minerals and vitamins and contains a specific carbohydrate: lactose. Not surprisingly milk is being processed into an enormous variety of products ranging from consumer products to food ingredients each with different compositions and applications.

Matching supply and demand of all these products is therefore a gigantic challenge to the dairy industry. In order to deal with this complex dairy supply chain, the European industry has been able to rely on the expertise offered by its trading community. Whether on the sizeable internal EU market or the world market, dairy traders have always been on the forefront to ensure that dairy products find buyers effectively and efficiently. This involvement helps securing value for all participants in the chain and reduces price volatility.

With a milk production of nearly 150 million tons and a variety and quality of dairy products matched by no other region in the world, the European Union is the dairy reference of the world. The skills developed by the European dairy traders are therefore appreciated well beyond the borders of the Union.