Goat milk cooperative NGC wants to be a stable sector beacon

The tandem focuses mainly on the production of goat cheese and the valorisation of whey. In addition, the work organisation of both merger partners is housed at CZ Rouveen. For the sake of completeness, FrieslandCampina should also be mentioned, because part of the milk is also processed there.

Only truly Dutch party
"I personally find it reassuring that we are still a truly Dutch player. It gives you more the feeling that you are still pulling the strings yourself and not a party somewhere far away," says Tuinte.

The NGC was created from the merger of the supply cooperatives CBM and BGNN plus a number of dairy goat farms that individually supplied CZ Rouveen. According to Tuinte, the merger was a success and the cooperative is a stable factor in the goat farming sector in the Netherlands, in the middle of an industry that is undergoing major changes.

Door open?
In the current situation, the NGC is already one of the larger players, but the cooperative is still considering whether to open the door to more entrants. There is a big chance that more goat farmers will want to join.

Tuinte doesn't want to say too much about it, but market leader Holland Goat Milk (HGM), affiliated with the Chinese Ausnutria, has indicated that it no longer wants to play the leading role in the sector that it has fulfilled since 2016, with the guarantee of always paying 0,4 cents per kilo more than the competition. That will be a thing of the past by the end of 2026, but what Ausnutria, or main shareholder Yili, wants then is unclear. The French Eurial, with the Belgian subsidiary Capra and the German Altenburger Ziege, is also making withdrawals.

Production stabilizes
That is not the case with Bettinehoeve, the third major player in the Netherlands, but there is also a foreign party pulling the strings, the Swiss Emmi. In addition to these parties, there are several smaller players.
Tuinte does not expect much growth in production in the coming years. "Production is stabilising. There are actually no newcomers anymore. Everyone who could, has more or less filled the space that was left in the companies and permits. Entrepreneurs did not want to be surprised by constantly changing rules and legal rulings and used what they could. In terms of manure legislation, we are often a little easier off than livestock farmers in the large sectors, but we also have to deal with the limits that apply to phosphate and nitrogen. However, we do supply a fertiliser with extra added value. The most important thing for us is that the milk price remains at the same level."

Cheese leading again
Now that infant nutrition is less and less of a draw for the goat milk price, the return must come from cheese production again. This continues to grow, also thanks to new sales channels, such as the sale of curds to the US.

Dutch goat cheese makers mainly produce Gouda (Gouda Holland) goat cheese, soft goat cheese and curd.