Although revenues at the world’s fifth largest dairy company rose by 3.5 percent to €5.7bn, profits were down 37% to €173m. The company is blaming the strong euro and market conditions for the sharp decline.

The results showed that overall sales volumes were back 1.4%. Even though higher prices (6.4%) and acquisitions (1.7%) helped to combat the decline in volumes, currency headwinds affected the revenue negatively by a further 3.2%.

Cees ’t Hart, CEO FrieslandCampina said “The combination of a strong euro, a high milk price, falling sales in a number of Asian markets and general political unrest all affected FrieslandCampina’s results during the first six months of 2014. He added that despite these developments, higher sales prices led to a further growth in revenue. In the consumer market, infant nutrition, which is one of our strategic growth categories, performed especially strongly.”

Even though they saw a 4.2% increase in sales volumes of infant nutrition, volumes of dairy-based beverages and branded cheese decreased by 8.6% and 3.9% respectively. Exports of cheese to Russia were also down.

The most robust growth was achieved in China, Hong Kong and the Philippines.