Greek yogurt market grows in the US
As Greek yogurt is becoming ever more popular in the States, with major US companies deciding to get involved in the industry, Greece?s leading yogurt maker FAGE is increasing its storage capacity across the Atlantic.
A recent Wall Street Journal report suggested that Pepsico is about to announce the creation of a consortium with German dairy firm Theo Muller for their joint entry in to the US yogurt market, heeding the growing popularity of the Greek product in the country.
Now FAGE?s subsidiary in the States, Fage USA Corp. that was founded in 2005 is responding to the increasing demand by expanding the storage capacity of its factory, that started operating in 2008 just outside New York.
By January 2012 its storage capacity will have grown from 4,000 to 10,000 pallets, thereby dwarfing the capacity of the factories FAGE operates in Greece (5,000 pallets).
FAGE?s investment in the US is estimated at about $160 million to date. It started exporting yogurt to the States in 1998.
Such has been the success of Greek yogurt in the US that Kraft Foods, which had completely left the yogurt market in 2004, recently returned to it using a Greek-sounding name for its product: ?Athenos?.
