Cooperativas Lácteas Unidas (Clun) sets its expectations of increasing the sales of milk and dairy products in international markets and commits to value-added differentiated quality products with the Galicia Calidade seal.

The vast Galician dairy cooperative, which was created in November last year from the integration of Feiraco, Os Irmandiños and Melisanto, expects that exports could amount to 10 % of the total sales this year and increase at a two digit rate in the coming years.

As assured by Pablo Gómez, head of Clun’s dairy products division, who assumed this responsibility after the success achieved in the bailout of Clesa, also owned by the Galician dairy cooperatives.

Clun sets its expectations to China and in differentiated dairy products.

Clun hopes to introduce its Clesa and Unicla brands into the Chinese market this year, and for exports to represent up to 10% of sales.

The cooperative expects to have a 200 million euro turnover, and currently includes some 3,500 partners that produce about 20% of Galician milk. The dairy products division accounts for half of the turnover, with 70 million corresponding to long life products (primarily UHT milk) and 30 million to yoghurts and refrigerated products.

Export is key to Clun’s future

In this sense, Clun’s strategy for its dairy products division is to continue increasing exports outside the European Union in the coming years. Currently Clun has three reference brands: Feiraco, the leading milk brand in Galicia; Unicla, its premium milk, and Clesa, with its wide range of yoghurts and dairy desserts. The sales of these two Unicla and Clesa brands, have had double digit growth in recent years, divided equally between Galicia and the rest of the Spanish market.

However, the main expectations of growth for Clun are outside Spain. “The consumption of milk in Europe is decreasing and data indicates that it will continue to decline, but if we look at the international level, the prospect is that consumption is projected to grow at rates of between 1 and 2% per year,” says Pablo Gómez. “We want to commit to that international market with differentiated dairy products, to reach this growing market is key to our development,” recognises the person responsible for Clun’s dairy division.

China is one of the countries where efforts are concentrated, within Clun’s commitment to international markets. The leap into the Chinese market began to be worked on in 2015 with the opening of an office in Shanghai through the Galician Food Cluster, meaning that a year ago negotiations paid off with an importer in Beijing.

“China is a country with a milk deficit and that very much appreciates a European origin product due to its quality guarantees, and that is why we have great expectations for that market,” explains Pablo Gómez.

In fact, this year Clun plans to expand the range of products sent to China by incorporating the Unicla brand. We are working on innovative packaging for this that allows the life of the products to be extended and to be able to bridge the gap between Galicia and China.

“In the case of Unicla this is a premium UHT milk, with awards for its taste and quality, as well as the high level of animal welfare on the farms that produce it, with them being the only ones certified with ISO 22000; and all this requires an effort to explain this to the consumer of other countries, who I am sure will value this differentiated quality and will allow us to continue increasing sales at a two digit annual rate,” explains Pablo Gómez.

Differentiated products and animal welfare

Another strategic line that Clun is working on is sustainability, in the welfare of its cows and in reducing of its carbon footprint, to be leaders in the sector with regards to respecting and caring for the environment and animal welfare.

Permanent innovation make quality the cornerstone of its commercial brands. Due to this, its products are endorsed by the highest recognition of quality standards: Galicia Calidade, 100% Galician, the ISO Certifications 9001, ISO 22,000 for its farms, and more recently, the AENOR certificate in Animal Welfare, which makes clear its commitment to the care of animals as a fundamental part of the strategy to improve the quality of its milk products.

“We are the only company that has certified farms with seal for animal welfare and additionally in the last few years we have been researching into the development of more ergonomic packaging to reduce its carbon footprint,” he confirms.

The added value of being a cooperative

These two strategic lines -commitment to export and for differentiated products- are complemented with maximising the cooperative nature of Clun.

“For us it is a strength that we are a cooperative and that the partner farmers can reap the benefits and have a return on this commitment to give greater added value to the milk,” he says.

But he also stresses that the cooperative nature of Clun is a strength from a technical point of view. They set the Unicla milk as an example, where “thanks to work with farmers we can directly address innovation and through a differentiated feeding achieve a product with high added value, recognised at international level”. “Feeding- he highlights- that simulates the milk of the green pastures of Galicia, but all year long”.

 

When Modesto Toubes and Delia Cabarcos started their own San Simón da Costa cheese factory ten years ago, they found that Designation of Origin (D.O.) products already had a strong presence in the Galician market, where more than half a dozen cheese factories competed, so they chose to focus on the domestic market and particularly on the international one. Currently, half of its production is sold abroad, in the United States, Asia and Europe.

The Queixeria Casleiras, located in Oleiros (Vilalba), was created in the heyday of San Simón, shortly after the designation was expanded throughout the entire Terra Cha. “We were the first D.O. cheese factory to set up outside of the parish of San Simón,” recalls Modesto.- “At that time, both Delia had just graduated from the University and we had a some work experience in industries. It was then that the idea came to us about setting up our own cheese factory”.

“We hit the nail on the head. When we saw the market situation in Galicia, we thought that it made more sense to seek new markets”

The approach that they gave from the beginning to the marketing of the cheese, committing to introducing it to rest of Spain and abroad, proved successful. “We hit the nail on the head. When we saw the market situation in Galicia, we thought that it made more sense to seek new markets than to start competing with the rest of the San Simón cheese factories. In Madrid and Barcelona, San Simón was already a known product, not as much as today, but it worked. We also decided to look beyond because we were aware that San Simón is a cured, smoked cheese that can tolerate long journeys. We then spoke to exporters and from there we saw that our cheese was successful abroad”.

Picture of the manufacturing process.

The opening of markets was progressive and continues to this day. “It is what allows us to grow” – Modesto values. “Just a few days ago we had our first cheese order from Myammar (formerly Burma)”. The Asian market is one of the strongest at export level. Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea are some of the countries where Casleiras is present.

Production
The production of the cheese factory focuses on San Simón cheese, the majority in one kilo pieces, the most suitable to send abroad. Around 200 and 250 San Simón cheeses are hand-crafted each day.

Delia Cabarcos and Modesto Toubes at a Food fair.

They obtain their milk supply through an authorised buyer. “The milk is from the region, as corresponds to the designation of origin, and meets at the quality, fat and protein levels. The Terra Cha region is characterised for being a wet area with good pastures and forages, a feature that has an impact on good milk”.

The Sector in Galicia
Casleiras, which also sells its San Simón in Galicia through the Froiz supermarket chain, maintains a clear commitment to export, a feature that the majority of the designation cheese factories share, and in fact they set up as a joint undertaking, Queixeiros da Chaira, a few years ago to promote themselves together abroad.
In the opinion of Modest Toubes, the Casleiras’manager, the foreign market should be a priority for the Galician dairy sector. “We have some hand-crafted products with designation of origin and a quality that can compete at international level,” he values.

It is more difficult to send other designations like Arzúa-Ulloa or Tetilla abroad as they are soft cheeses, which must be eaten much quicker, although Modesto thinks that these D.Os could explore the authorisation of vacuum packaging for export, which would allow for the cheeses to be preserved longer.