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Dairy Products Manufacture Industry Profile Excerpt
| SIC Codes: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026 NAICS Codes: 3115 Page Length: 10-12 Last Quarterly Update: 10/6/2008 View Sample Industry Profile |
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The US dairy products manufacturing industry consists of about 1,200 companies that have combined annual revenue of $60 billion. Large industry participants include Dean Foods, cooperatives like Dairy Farmers of America and Land O'Lakes, and the US subsidiaries of foreign companies like Danone. The industry is rapidly consolidating: the 50 largest companies hold 75 percent of the market. Although most companies in the industry are small, a few large companies have been built through acquisitions.
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
Changes in consumer income drive demand for various types of dairy foods. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations and marketing, as milk is a commodity product. There are few economies of scale in the manufacturing process, which is why small companies can effectively compete with the large ones in local markets.
PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY
The four major product segments are fluid milk and milk products ($30 billion); cheese ($20 billion); frozen desserts ($10 billion); and butter ($1 billion). Most companies specialize in only one product segment, although large companies may participate in several. Because of the perishable nature of much of the products, especially fluid milk, local production is the norm. Companies receive raw milk from local producers, process it, and distribute the products to local customers. Large companies own many local plants; Dean Foods (formerly Suiza Foods) owns about 77 local production plants.
Nearly all milk sold in the US is pasteurized and homogenized. The basic ...
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