Without making the link most of you reading this article are familiar with Glanbia at least if you have lived or spent significant time in Ireland. How can I state that with such confidence?

The answer is that Glanbia is responsible for some of the brands which we grew up with in Ireland and depending on what part of the Country you come from (or spent holidays in) you will recognize different ones.

The largest of these is Avonmore which is the 2nd most recognized brand in Irish retail (only piped by Coca Cola). Avonmore covers a range of products from Fresh Milk, Cream, Soups and Sauces and Cheese. . The iconic Avonmore brand sits alongside Yoplait (Glanbia is the Irish Brand owner), Kilmeaden (The fillet of Cheddar!), Premier Dairies and CMP Dairies.

Glanbia was formed in 1996 through the merger of Avonmore and Waterford Co-Op which was renamed Glanbia (meaning Clean or Pure Food) in 1997 and is a plc whose largest shareholder remains the Co-op with a 54% stake holding.

That addresses some of the questions around who we are but only really scratches the surface. Glanbia is proudly the largest manufacturer of Cheddar type cheese in the United States of America as well as being a top 3 Global player in Premixes (micro nutrient blends) and owning the No. 1 Brand in Sports Nutrition (Optimum Nutrition).

Focusing on Cheese for a bit to understand where we started in Asia the key is simply when you make a lot of cheese you also make a lot of Whey (Protein) and Lactose (Milk Sugar). These ingredients can be used in a wide range of applications from Infant Formula to Sports Nutrition.

China, SEA and India are set to be the key growth drivers for the consumption of Dairy products over the coming years. It is linked to GDP growth driving per capita consumption in those countries. If you take China as an example per capita consumption of milk has doubled in the last 5-6 years. Even with that it remains a fraction (20-25kg/capita vs. 140-150kg/capita in Ireland) of the per capita consumption figures seen in Developed Countries. The consumption is expected to double again in the next 3-5 years. The growth within the Chinese Milk producing Regions cannot currently keep up with this level of demand growth as it is a fragmented complex milk supply chain whereby 80% of all Milk in China comes from 'farms' of 2 cows or less. This level of fragmentation makes efficiencies of scale difficult to achieve especially when breeding and feed programs are under developed. There is therefore a need for key ingredients to fulfill this growing demand.

The fact that the demand for high quality Dairy Ingredients and micro nutrients (Vitamins and Minerals) is increasing then leads to the obvious conclusion as to why Glanbia has invested in developing the Region.

Sports Nutrition is also growing as more and more people start to make the link between exercise and a healthy lifestyle and adding nutrition into that equation. It is a relatively new category in many parts of Asia but growing in interest all the time.

Glanbia Nutritionals opened an office in 2005 in Shanghai in order to build a support structure to engage and support our customers directly and give customers easy access to the full range of Glanbia ingredients and technologies. Since 2005 Glanbia has opened Commercial offices throughout the Region and in 2008 opened the first manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China. This facility is a high quality micro-nutrient premix factory putting together customer focused solutions to deliver on the nutritional objectives of your products. It couples formulation know how with sourcing, quality and manufacturing expertise to deliver 'what it says on the tin'.

Today Glanbia has 3 main businesses in Asia. They are Dairy Ingredients, Customised Solutions (Micro nutrient premixes) and Optimum Nutrition (Sports Nutrition Brand) operating out of the Singapore Glanbia Nutritionals AsPac Head Office.

The Business is headed by Barry Fitzsimons, Regional Director for AsPac who has recently relocated from Shanghai to Singapore. Barry has been with Glanbia since opening the office in June 2005. Heading for 9 years overall in Asia with stints in Japan, Philippines, China and now Singapore. Barry is a graduate of University of Limerick and is originally from Kinsale, Co. Cork. So yes another Corkman in Singapore!