FrieslandCampina admits heavy losses as sales volumes drop

Dutch dairy producer FrieslandCampina saw its revenue fall last year, as its net result plummeted to 149 million euros below zero. The company is undergoing a reorganisation to stem the losses.

Less milk

Back in December, FrieslandCampina had already announced it was cutting 1,800 jobs. Now the reasons become increasingly clear: the milk producer suffered a net loss of 149 million euros in 2023, down from 292 million euros profit in 2022. Part of the loss came from reorganisation costs, but demand also fell.

Net revenue fell 7.1 % to 13.1 billion euros: volumes were down as consumers bought less frequent and smaller quantities of milk. However, about half of the revenue drop came from negative currency effects in Pakistan and Nigeria. FrieslandCampina is the market leader in Pakistan, but political unrest and heavy floods led to a devaluation of the currency.

Nevertheless, the company remains committed to the developing countries, CEO Jan Derck van Karnebeek told Dutch newspaper FD. After all, it is in those countries in particular that demand is rising, in contrast to Europe – where both consumption and production are under pressure. FrieslandCampina acknowledges that there may be fewer dairy farmers left because of the climate and greenhouse emission policies in the Benelux, but how many is “hard to predict”.