| Type | Limited company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1905 |
| Headquarters | Helsinki, Finland |
| Industry | Dairy |
| Employees | 4,300 |
| Website | www.valio.com, valiousa.com |
Valio Ltd (Finnish: Valio Oy) is one of the biggest companies in Finland and mostly produces dairy products such as cheese, powdered ingredients, butter, yogurt and milk. Valio is Finland's biggest milk processor, producing 86% of Finland's milk.
Valio Group's net turnover was 1.8 billion euros in 2010. Valio is the market leader in key dairy product groups in Finland and a pioneer as the developer of functional foods. Valio Ltd is owned by 18 dairy cooperatives with about 9 000 milk farmers as members. Nowadays about 1000 products belong to Valio's product range.
Valio Ltd has 15 production plants in Finland, two in Estonia, one cheese packaging facility in Belgium and a logistic centre in Moscow, Russia. Valio subsidiaries operate in Russia, Sweden, Belgium, the Baltic, USA and China. International operations account for one third of Valio net turnover.
Valio was founded in 1905 by 17 co-operative dairies. The original name of the company was Voivienti-osuusliike Valio r.l, or "Butter Export Cooperative Valio". The company was originally based in Hanko and the most important market was England.
Valio's activities expanded from butter to other dairy products in 1909, and by the 1920s Valio's marketing in Finland was bigger than abroad.
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was an employee of Valio. The prize was given for benefit which Virtanen's workteam brought with AIV-fodder.
In 2001, Valio launched a lactose-free milk drink which is not sweet like HYLA milk but has the fresh taste of ordinary milk. Valio patented the chromatographic separation method to remove lactose. Valio also markets these products in Sweden, Estonia, Belgium,[1] and the USA, where the company says ultrafiltration is used.[2]
Valio sold its ice cream activity to overseas company Nestlé in 2004. Nestlé also got the right to use the "Valiojäätelö" name for a long time.
In 2005, Valion Jäätelöbaari (Valio Ice Cream Bar), designed by Paola Suhonen, was opened in Kamppi Center, Helsinki.
In 2007, Valio invested approx. €60 million in a factory near Moscow for packaging of cheese and butter for the Russian market as well as for logistics operation from Moscow up to Pacific Ocean. The products are mostly imported from the mother company in Finland. The production capacity of the plant will be 8,000 mt per year and can be expanded up to 20,000 mt, 400 employees will work in the factory. The turnover of Valio in Russia was €283 million in 2010, which makes it the biggest Finnish FMCG operator on Russian market right after Nokia.
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