Arla Foods is a Swedish-Danish cooperative based in rhus, Denmark, and the largest producer of dairy products in Scandinavia.

Arla Foods was formed after the merger between the Swedish dairy cooperative Arla and the Danish dairy company MD Foods on 17 April 2000 . This was the first large cross national merger in the Nordic dairy industry. The name Arla derives from the same word as the English word "early" and is an Swedish term for "early (in the morning)". Arla Foods is a global dairy company and a co-operative owned by dairy farmers. It have production facilities in 12 countries and sales offices in a further 30, with a total of more than 18,000 employees. Arla products are sold under the well-known brands Arla, Lurpak and Castello in more than 100 countries and its core markets are Denmark, Sweden, The UK, Finland, Germany and The Netherlands. HISTORY OF ARLA Here is the company history showing its progress per year The two companies behind Arla Foods amba, is the Danish MD Foods and the Swedish Arla Founding of Arla Foods as following:In 1995 MD Foods and Arla begin to co-operate. Both companies decided to work together and in 1999 both companies Plans for a merger. The merge between Arla and MD Foods both during the autumn, the owners the cooperative members, agree to the proposal and MD Foods and Arla announce their merger. In the year 2000 Arla Foods amba isoffically formed on April 17. BY seeing their success in the local market now the company want to spread through out the world with u motive to increase Dairy business In 2004 Arla acquired National Cheese Company in Canada, and become a producer and distributor of cheese in all over Canada. In

2005 Arla and the Chinese dairy company China Mengniu Company started a partnership in producing milk powder for the Chinese market. Now Alra Foods wants to grow their steps toward U.S. market . Company buyes a American cheese speciality dairy White Clover in Wisconsin, USA in the year 2006. In the same year company announced the purchase of the privately owned Finnish dairy Ingman Foods Oy Ab. NOW after the success aat global world thet target UK market In there is 2007 Merger between Arla and Express Dairies in the UK. The merger creates the UK's leading supplier of dairy products under the name of Arla Foods UK plc. In the Same year Arla Foods establishes new joint venture with Artis in Russia creating the new Russian company Arla Foods Artis LCC. In 2009 Arla bought the Dutch dairy Friesland Fresh Foods in Nijkerk, changing it's name to Arla Foods BV. In 2010 Shareholders of Westbury Dairies Ltd announced joint venture with Arla Foods UK plc. In 2011 Merger between Arla and Hansa-Milch eG from Germany, 670 active German farmers became cooperative owners of Arla Foods amba 2011 EUs competition authorities gave the go-ahead for Arla Foods acquisition of AllgulandKsereien in Southern Germany. 2012 Arla merged with the German dairy company Milch-union Hocheifel MUH, and British Milk Link. The mergers meant that Arla Foods grew from 8,024 co-operative owners in Denmark, Sweden and Germany to 12,300 co-operative owners in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the UK. 2012 Arla signed agreements with Chinas leading dairy company China Mengniu Dairy Company Ltd. and with the leading food and beverage company in China, COFCO Corporation