Valio is significantly benefiting from the problems faced by their Danish competitor, Arla Foods. Although Valio already has an existing share of the Middle Eastern market, Arla’s exporting commitment in the region and subsequent losses are far greater.
The managing director of Valio, Harry Salonaho, said that he felt it was a shame that Arla was suffering, through no fault of their own. He said he would have preferred that Valio increased its market share in the Middle East for a more positive reason than the controversy caused by the publication of cartoons.
The company is currently using maximum resources to meet demand and most of the Valio exports bound for Muslim countries will be produced in Finland. Even so, Valio does not believe that the added production will greatly influence job creation in Finland.
YLE24
