French food group Danone signed a deal recently to co-fund the construction of dairy farms alongside Russian firm Damate to try to secure long-term milk supplies in the fast-growing Russian market.

Danone said it would provide financial support to the construction of several dairy farms in the central Tyumen region and the Bashkortostan Republic.

All milk produced by the farms will be sold to Danone's factories. Danone has more than 20 plants in Russia and is the leading producer of milk and dairy products.

Workers from Germany's Bavarian dairy industry, organized by IUF affiliated NGG are staging warning strikes at many dairy companies against the company`s refusal to offer any wage increase. Workers at Goldsteig in Cham walked off the job on October 2. The warning strikes aim to put pressure on dairy companies ahead of the next CBA negotiation round with the union.

Rabobank has released its list of the top 20 dairy manufacturers based on revenue earned in 2012 and Nestle has extended the lead over its competitors.Nestle's dairy sales revenue was USD30.1bn, an increase of more than $4bn on revenue reported in 2011. Danone, Lactalis, Fonterra, Friesland Campina, Dairy Farmers of America, Arla Foods, Dean Foods, Saputo and Meiji close out the top ten.

After 62 days of continuous protests the IUF-affiliated Milk Food Factory Workers Union in Punjab, India, won a crucial victory against union-busting and the erosion of working conditions by profit hungry GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare.