Valio winning over Chinese consumers

Innovative Finnish dairy manufacturer diversifies into booming retail market, offering lactose-free, localized products

First tapping into the Chinese market 32 years ago, Finland's largest dairy company Valio Ltd has kept a low-profile in the country in recent decades, preferring to team up with leading local players, such as Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd. But, the Finnish giant has recently launched a transformation initiative in the country. It opened its China headquarters in Shanghai in May to connect with Chinese consumers directly.

Established in 1905, Valio is the only dairy company to be related to a Nobel Prize in chemistry. Its then laboratory director Artturi Ilmari Virtanen received the prize "for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry" in 1945. The company's emphasis on research and development, as manifested by its 113-year-old lab, has helped it to release new products to address people's digestive problems, such as lactose intolerance.