With presence in 30 countries and market leaders with cheeses such as Coeur de Lion, Saint Agur, Bresso, Fol Epi and Saint Albray, the dairy has increased its cheese sales performance worldwide by 2% for the first nine months of 2010 in what is described as an otherwise very difficult market. Turnover for cheese is EUR1.74 billion, compared with EUR1.65bn for January-September in 2009.

Favourable exchange rates has helped Bongrain score another sales hit this year – this time with its industrial and catering dairy products, which saw increased sales over the period by 13.7% to EUR786.9 million. Overall, the first nine months of this year brought a 5.9% increase in turnover for the entire concern.

Would the company keep up this performance for the remainder of 2010? Head office in Paris declined to speculate, warning that price fluctuations for industrial dairy products could well affect all results by the end of the year.