Berglandmilch plans merger with Obersteirische Molkerei

Austria’s largest dairy cooperative, Berglandmilch, plans to merge with Obersteirische Molkerei, continuing a decades-long consolidation of the country’s dairy industry, ORF reported on Friday.

Most Austrian dairies are run as cooperatives owned by dairy farmers. SalzburgMilch, Berglandmilch and NÖM dominate the market.

SalzburgMilch was created in 2013 through the merger of Alpenmilch Salzburg and Käsehof. In 2020, Bavarian dairy company Meggle sold its 42 percent stake to the cooperative, returning SalzburgMilch to full ownership by Austrian dairy farmers.

In 2026, SalzburgMilch took a stake in the previously majority privately owned Pinzgau Milch and assumed operational management. The two Salzburg dairies now have combined annual revenue of more than 510 million euros.

A planned merger between SalzburgMilch and the cooperative Gmundner Molkerei failed. Gmundner Molkerei subsequently joined the privately owned Bavarian Milchwerk Jäger GmbH, with both companies taking reciprocal stakes.

Cost savings drive consolidation

Many cooperative dairy processors have merged since the 1990s to reduce costs. Franz Sinabell, an economist at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research, said the consolidation of cooperative dairies over the past 30 years was not surprising.

Cost savings from mergers could be passed on to dairy farmers if the companies were managed well, Sinabell told the APA news agency. In other European Union countries, commercial dairy processors hold considerable market shares and generate billions of euros in annual revenue.

Competition authorities are closely monitoring the merger trend in Austria’s dairy industry. Sinabell said the authorities would eventually stop further consolidation. He described the situation as particularly critical where farmers could sell their milk to only one dairy and therefore became heavily dependent on it.

Berglandmilch could reach 1.5 billion euros

If competition authorities approve the merger, Berglandmilch’s annual revenue could soon reach 1.5 billion euros. Obersteirische Molkerei’s dairy division generated around 162 million euros last year. Including its warehousing and forestry technology subsidiaries, the group recorded revenue of about 390 million euros in 2025.

Berglandmilch, whose brands include Schärdinger and Tirol Milch, most recently reported revenue of more than 1.3 billion euros. The cooperative was founded in 1994, ahead of Austria’s accession to the European Union, through the merger of six regional dairies.

Landfrisch Molkerei joined Berglandmilch in 2009, Tirol Milch in 2010 and Stainzer Milch in 2011. Under the planned transaction, Obersteirische Molkerei would contribute its dairy division and receive about 10 percent of the shares in the Berglandmilch cooperative.

Other dairy partnerships

NÖM, Austria’s second-largest dairy, is 63 percent owned by Raiffeisen-Holding NÖ-Wien. Dairy farmers in Lower Austria hold 34 percent through the MGN Milchgenossenschaft Niederösterreich cooperative. NÖM generated around 790 million euros in revenue in 2025.

In mid-2025, NÖM and the cooperative Vorarlberg Milch announced a merger. The Vorarlberg V-Milch cooperative now holds a 3 percent stake in NÖM. Vorarlberg Milch had revenue of 60 million euros.

Kärntnermilch, another cooperative, reported revenue of 135 million euros in 2025. The family-owned companies Vorarlberg cheese producer Rupp AG and Salzburg cheesemaker Woerle recorded revenue of 370 million euros and 185 million euros respectively.

Austria’s dairy processors are highly dependent on a small number of supermarket chains in the domestic market. Spar, Rewe, including Billa, Hofer and Lidl account for 94 percent of the market. At the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, NÖM and Spar failed to reach an agreement on prices for several months, and Spar temporarily removed NÖM products from its shelves.