Mergers and acquisitions have reshaped the ranking of the world's largest dairy companies, which RaboResearch says has entered "a new phase defined by consolidation, specialization and a greater focus on value creation", FoodNavigator reports. The Global Dairy Top 20 uses estimated 2025 dairy sales and counts deals completed by 1 July 2026.
The top three are unchanged: Lactalis at USD 40.2 billion, Nestlé at USD 23.7 billion and Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) at USD 23.1 billion. Arla Foods of Denmark rose two places to fourth, with USD 23 billion, after merging with Germany's DMK Group, ranked 18th last year. Fonterra fell three places to tenth after selling its Mainland consumer business to Lactalis.
RaboResearch called the Mainland deal the most significant of the year, adding an estimated USD 3.4 billion to Lactalis' revenue and strengthening it in Australia and Asia. Lactalis' purchase of General Mills' US yogurt business added about USD 1.4 billion. Unilever left the list after spinning off its ice cream business to The Magnum Ice Cream Company, which took 11th place.
Tom Booijink, RaboResearch senior dairy analyst for Europe and Africa, said DFA, the largest US dairy co-operative, could overtake Nestlé with even a small acquisition. DFA bought Winona Foods' Lineville cheese plant and W&W Dairy in Wisconsin in 2025, and the report calls it one of the most vertically integrated dairy organisations in the world. Nestlé, by contrast, increasingly works as a diversified food and drink company; in February 2026 it said it was negotiating to transfer its remaining ice cream businesses to Froneri.
Beyond deals, the report says the leaders are moving into higher-value segments such as nutrition, protein ingredients, specialty cheeses and functional dairy, after decades of growth driven mainly by more milk and new territories. The article was written by Timothy Inklebarger.
Photo: Cgoodwin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: FoodNavigator
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