FrieslandCampina profit down 40 percent

FrieslandCampina recorded significantly lower profit in the first half of 2026 than in the same period last year. This is mainly due to lower prices of basic dairy products as a result of the global milk surplus. Sales volumes did increase and there was a turnaround in declining milk supply. For the second half of this year, the dairy cooperative is more positive. The lower prices could be offset by the integration of Milcobel and the American Wisconsin Whey Protein. As a result, revenue remained almost unchanged at €6.8 billion. Net profit did take a major hit and fell from €230 million to €138 million, a decline of 40%. Operating cash flow improved to €292 million due to better management of working capital. Imbalance in the market CEO Jan Derck van Karnebeek attributes the decline to the 'sharp imbalance' in the dairy market. Supply and demand were not in step, which put pressure on prices and margins. In northwestern Europe, milk supply was higher than available processing capacity, meaning extra volumes could not always be processed into products with the highest value, said Van Karnebeek. Benefiting from the protein trend Despite the decline in profit, the CEO also sees bright spots. Sales volumes are improving in virtually all markets where FrieslandCampina is active. The company also benefited from high prices for high-quality proteins, which reached record levels in recent months. In addition, sales of infant nutrition in Asia through the Friso brand developed positively, which falls under the highly profitable business group Specialised Nutrition. Significantly more milk Milk supply rose by 18.5% to 5.4 billion kilos in the first six months. About half of that increase is due to the integration of Milcobel, which is proceeding according to schedule. The remaining growth comes from the influx of new members and organic growth. After years of decline, milk supply is showing a turnaround. Although FrieslandCampina does not mention any new member numbers, it can be concluded from this that a substantial influx of suppliers has joined. More positive about the second half After a weaker first half, FrieslandCampina is more positive about the second half of 2026. The expectation is that profit will then be higher than in the first six months. Attention is being drawn to stabilising prices of basic dairy products. According to the dairy cooperative, margins remain strongly dependent on weather conditions, geopolitical tensions, currency movements and regulations.