Valio, the Finnish dairy farmer co-op, saw sales for its 2017 financial year increase more than 4% to €1.7bn. While sales in the domestic Finnish market were stable, Valio reported sales growth of more than 12% to international markets, with strong growth recorded in Sweden, the Baltic States, Russia and China.

While sales increased during the year, operating profits at Valio were slashed by almost half (-43%) to €15m as the co-op paid out more to farmer suppliers for milk.

The co-op said it paid out €725m to farmers in 2017 for all milk collected, which equated to an average milk price of 39c/l last year. This is up slightly from the average price of 0.38c/l paid in 2016. Valio processed just over 1.8bn litres of milk last year, which was down 1% on the previous year.

Valio reported pre-tax profits of €4.4m as the dairy co-op continued to invest heavily in new product development. Total R&D investment for 2017 stood at almost €29m, which equates to 2% of sales. Valio launched 109 new products in Finland and international markets last year.

In its annual report, Valio noted that liquid milk consumption in Finland had fallen significantly in the last decade by almost 100m litres per annum. Finnish consumers are instead eating more dairy, with higher consumption of cheeses and yoghurt. Nearly half the cheese consumed in Finland is imported, according to Valio.