Dairy firms Friesland Foods and Campina plan to merge, creating the world’s biggest dairy cooperative with annual sales of over €9bn.

Friesland, producer of the Chocomel and Fristi drinks, and Campina (Optimel drinks and Mona puddings) will put the merger plans to their members on May 7.
The two co-ops are supplied by 17,000 farms in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. In total, they process some 8.3 billion kilos of milk a year.
The merger must also be approved by Dutch and European competition authorities.
The new combine will have a workforce of 22,000 and be active in over 100 countries worldwide. Some 500 jobs will be phased out when the two headquarters are combined.