PepsiCo could be set to join forces with German dairy giant Müller as part of its plans to enter the rapidly-growing US yoghurt market and grow its global dairy arm.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people briefed on the matter, said today (14 October) a joint venture to launch a yoghurt brand in the US is likely to be announced in the coming weeks.
PepsiCo has spoken of its desire to expand its range of health and wellness products. Last year, the company set up a “global nutrition group”, a business unit focusing squarely on nutrition. PepsiCo said then it wanted to triple its nutrition business, home to brands like Quaker and Tropicana, to US$30bn by 2020.
In February, PepsiCo completed its acquisition of Russian dairy and fruit juice firm Wimm-Bill-Dann in a deal worth $5.2bn.
Yoghurt is a rapidly-growing market in the US. Danone chairman and CEO Franck Riboud has described the US as an “emerging market” for yoghurt. According to Euromonitor data, US consumers are set to have eaten GBP13.90 of yoghurt per person in 2010. In the UK, per capita consumption is GBP26.80.
Neither PepsiCo or Müller were available for comment at time of writing.

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