Valio Ltd ( fi, Valio Oy) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

manufacturer of

dairy product Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items i ...

s and one of the largest companies in Finland. Valio's products include cheese, powdered ingredients, butter,

yogurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bac ...

and milk. It is Finland's largest milk processor, producing 85% of the country's milk. Valio's net turnover in 2012 was 2 billion euros. Valio is the market leader in key dairy product categories in Finland and a pioneer as the developer of

functional food A functional food is a food claimed to have an additional (often one related to health promotion or disease prevention) by adding new ingredients or more of existing ingredients. The term may also apply to traits purposely bred into existing edib ...

s. Valio is owned by 18 dairy cooperatives which have about 7,900 milk farmers as members. Valio's product range currently consists of about 1,000 products. Valio is Finland’s biggest food exporter and sells products to nearly 60 countries. In 2015 Valio’s share of Finland’s dairy product exports was around 97%, and that of Finland’s food exports around 29%. Valio has 15 production facilities in Finland, two in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

and a plant for producing processed cheese and a logistics centre in Moscow, Russia. Valio subsidiaries operate in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

, the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. International operations account for one third of Valio net turnover.

History

Valio was founded in 1905 by 17 co-operative dairies. The original name of the company was , or 'Butter Export Cooperative Valio'. The company was originally based in Hanko and the most important market was

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Valio's activities expanded from butter to other

s in 1909, and by the 1920s Valio's marketing in Finland was bigger than abroad. Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, who received the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

, was an employee of Valio. The prize was given "for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry, especially for his fodder preservation method". Virtanen's work preserved nutrients in hay, which lead cows to produce more nutritious milk. In 2001, Valio launched a lactose-free milk drink which is not sweet like HYLA milk but has the fresh taste of ordinary milk. Valio patented the

chromatographic In chemical analysis, chromatography is a laboratory technique for the separation of a mixture into its components. The mixture is dissolved in a fluid solvent (gas or liquid) called the ''mobile phase'', which carries it through a system (a ...

separation method to remove lactose. Valio also markets these products in

, and the

, where the company says

ultrafiltration Ultrafiltration (UF) is a variety of membrane filtration in which forces such as pressure or concentration gradients lead to a separation through a semipermeable membrane. Suspended solids and solutes of high molecular weight are retained in the ...

is used. In

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

the products were present under the Valio brand until 2013, but the name changed after Valio sold their Belgian subsidiary in 2012. The brand is now called Dilea and the drink is still made using the Valio process. Valio sold its ice cream activity to overseas company

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

in 2004. Nestlé also received the right to use the name for 10 years, ending in 2014. It was soon transferred into the Nestle/

R&R Ice Cream Froneri is a global ice cream manufacturer with its headquarters in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, England. It is the largest producer of ice cream in Europe by volume, and the second-largest in the world, after Unilever. Froneri was establish ...

joint venture Froneri Finland. In 2005, (Valio Ice Cream Bar), designed by Paola Suhonen, was opened in

Kamppi Center Kamppi Centre ( fi, Kampin keskus, sv, Kampens centrum) is a complex in the Kamppi district in the centre of Helsinki, Finland, designed by various architects, the main designer, however, being Juhani Pallasmaa. It is said to be Helsinki's new ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. In 2007, Valio invested approx. €60 million in a factory near

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

for the packaging of cheese and butter for the Russian market as well as for logistics operations from Moscow up to the Pacific Ocean. The products were mostly imported from the mother company in Finland. The production capacity of the plant was 8,000 Mt per year with 400 employees and could be expanded up to 20,000 Mt. The turnover of Valio in Russia was €283 million in 2010, making it the biggest Finnish consumer business on the Russian market after Nokia. After Russia imposed sanctions on the EU, butter made by Valio appeared in supermarkets in the USA under the FINLANDIA brand.

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Food and drink companies of Finland Finnish brands Manufacturing companies based in Helsinki Ice cream brands