Valio facts for kids
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| Limited company | |
| Industry | Dairy |
| Founded | 1905 |
| Headquarters | |
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Key people
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Annikka Hurme (CEO) |
| Revenue |  EUR 2 billion |
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Number of employees
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4,600 |
Valio Ltd is a big Finnish company that makes many different dairy products. They are known for cheese, butter, yogurt, and milk. Valio processes most of the milk in Finland, about 85% of it! They also sell their products to many countries around the world.
Valio is a very successful company. In 2012, they made about 2 billion euros. They are a leader in dairy products in Finland. Valio is also known for creating "functional foods." These are foods that have extra health benefits. Valio is owned by 18 dairy cooperatives. These cooperatives include about 7,900 milk farmers. Valio makes around 1,000 different products. They are Finland's biggest food exporter, selling to almost 60 countries.
Valio has 15 factories in Finland. They also have two factories in Estonia. In Russia, they have a factory for processed cheese and a storage center. Valio has offices in Russia, Sweden, the Baltic countries, the United States, and China. About one-third of Valio's sales come from outside Finland.
How Valio Started
Valio was founded in 1905. It was started by 17 dairy farms working together. The company's first name meant 'Butter Export Cooperative Valio'. It was first located in Hanko, Finland. At that time, their most important market was England.
Valio started making other dairy products in 1909. By the 1920s, Valio was selling more products in Finland than abroad. In 1933, Valio began making Koskenlaskija cheese in Helsinki. They also sold a type of Gruyere cheese in the United States.
A Nobel Prize Winner!
A famous scientist named Artturi Ilmari Virtanen worked for Valio. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He received the prize for his research in farming and food chemistry. He found a way to keep nutrients in hay. This helped cows produce more nutritious milk.
New Dairy Products
In 2001, Valio launched a special lactose-free milk drink. Lactose is a type of sugar found in milk. This new milk tasted like regular milk, not sweet like some other lactose-free options. Valio created a special method to remove lactose from milk. They also sell these lactose-free products in Sweden, Estonia, and the United States.
Valio's products were sold in Belgium until 2013. Valio sold its Belgian part of the company in 2012. Now, the brand there is called Dilea. It still uses the Valio process to make the milk.
In 2004, Valio sold its ice cream business to a company called Nestlé. Nestlé was allowed to use the Valio ice cream name for 10 years, until 2014. Later, this ice cream business became part of Froneri Finland.
In 2005, a Valio Ice Cream Bar opened in Helsinki. It was designed by Paola Suhonen.
Valio's Global Reach
In 2007, Valio invested about 60 million euros in a factory near Moscow, Russia. This factory was for packaging cheese and butter for the Russian market. It also helped with sending products across Russia. Most of the products came from Finland. The factory could produce 8,000 tons of products each year and had 400 employees. Valio's sales in Russia were 283 million euros in 2010. This made them a very big Finnish food business in Russia. After some changes in trade rules, Valio butter also started appearing in supermarkets in the USA under the FINLANDIA brand.
