US Darigold exports dairy products to Philippines after 50-year hiatus
The company has entered with Darigold-branded consumer products
30 January 2025
4 minute read
By: Darigold, Inc., a Seattle-based dairy company and one of the largest dairy cooperatives in the United States, has re-entered the Philippines with Darigold-branded consumer products for the first time in 50 years, according to a company-issued press release.
Farmer-owned Darigold first began selling in the Philippines in the 1920s before discontinuing the sale of consumer products in the island nation in the 1970s. In partnership with AllDay Supermarkets, Darigold is returning to the market with its FIT Milk ultra-filtered product line, as well as aseptic, ultra-pasteurized fluid milk.
During its hiatus from selling consumer products in the country, Darigold continued to export dairy-based ingredients to commercial customers in some 30 countries worldwide, including the Philippines. Its commercial products include butter, cheese, and powdered milk products, which are used in childhood nutrition applications, protein drinks, baked goods, confectionery products, and a host of other consumer packed goods. Darigold sells commercial ingredients to a variety of global dairy producers, packaged foods companies, and institutional food service operators, among others.
Through this new initiative, the company is now selling both its commercial ingredients and consumer products in the Philippines. It's lineup of consumer products available in the Philippines includes its full FIT Milk lineup in single-serve bottles, and ultra-pasteurised fresh milk including whole milk, and chocolate and strawberry flavoured milk in single-serve bottles.
"Fluid milk has presented a very different challenge for long range distribution, including globally, because of its relatively short shelf life," said Dan Hofmeister, president of Darigold's brand-to-consumer business. "Products like our FIT Milk, and aseptic milk, which are ultra-high temperature pasteurized, provide opportunities to overcome that limitation. Because they are ultra-pasteurized, these products offer extended shelf life of a year, making it more feasible to ship greater distances, including globally."
The ability to distribute shelf stable milk greater distances is important for domestic dairy producers, including Darigold. According to data shared by Rabobank, a Dutch financial services company that maintains a specialized practice in food and agriculture, global demand for dairy is expected to grow from 95 million metric tons (MMT), to 115 MMT over the next 10 years. At the same time, declining milk production in Europe and Oceania is creating a production shortfall, and an opportunity for American producers with export capabilities. Data from the United States Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service suggests dairy demand in the Philippines is poised for 3% growth, while the island nation imports 99% of all of its dairy.
"Darigold's production and processing capabilities are all in the Northwestern United States, giving us ready access to global shipping infrastructure, including rail lines, maritime ports, and interstate highways," said Allan Huttema, president and CEO at Darigold. "That proximity to global shipping infrastructure gives us a competitive advantage to help grow our business internationally."
The partnership to bring consumer products to the Philippines comes on the heels of efforts to expand the reach of its consumer division domestically as well. While its consumer products have been widely available throughout the Northwest and surrounding states, Darigold has entered into distribution partnerships over the last year that have products going to major markets in the eastern and midwestern United States, and nationally via Amazon.
"For more than 100 years, the Darigold brand has been known and loved in the Northwest but is largely unknown in other parts of the country," said Hofmeister. "Less perishable products with longer shelf lives are enabling us to introduce the Darigold brand elsewhere in the country and around the world. That creates new opportunities for us to grow our business and build more value for our customers and our farmer-owners."
Darigold is indeed banking on that opportunity to expand. In late 2022, the company broke ground on a new production facility in Pasco, Wash. that will allow it to process an additional 8 million pounds of milk per day and allow its 300 farmer-owners to grow on-farm operations to produce that added volume of milk.
"We're already one of the nation's largest dairy producers in one of the country's best dairy producing regions," said Darigold's Huttema. "Our farmer-owners have made a big bet on our ability to grow our business domestically and globally and, in so doing, establishing the region as a major hub for dairy for generations to come. We aim to make good on that bet."
