The French dairy sector is a growth industry bringing together committed and passionate men and women.

Dairy farmers, cooperatives, and businesses; as well as cheese shops, retailers and the food-service industry all share the same deeply held belief: France is a dairy country. Together they support local production, with small farms and production sites scattered across all of the nation’s regions.

The sector is using all the tools available to guarantee flawless quality and safety, day in and day out, in products made from a one-of-a-kind raw material that is both fragile and perishable.

A range of 15 000 dairy products

Empowered by its established savoir-faire while looking resolutely to the future, the industry has benefitted tremendously from the dynamic approach of dairy processors, who have invested in state-of-the-art technology and research in order to provide solutions for consumers at every moment in modern life, for various populations’ nutritional needs, and for all different uses. This savoir-faire enables them to offer an extensive and highly diverse range of over fifteen hundred products enjoyed both in France and around the world.

Since 2020, France Terre de Lait (France: Land of Milk) has been the French dairy sector’s signature in terms of social responsibility. It is a formal pledge signed by the entire industry to showcase the excellence of the dairy industry in France and abroad, and to contribute to extending the long history of the French dairy model.

Key figures of Dairy sector in France

France is the second milk producer in Europe and the seventh milk producer in the world.
Turnover of Dairy sector in France is 31.9 billion euros. €6.6 billion of which is from export.
In France, there are 4 dairy groups in the world’s top 20.
France counts 58 000 dairy farms.
The Dairy sector provides 280 000 direct jobs.
There are 51 Protected Designation of Origin :
46 for cheese
3 for butter
2 for cream