Germany’s butter specialist Meggle from Bavaria adds another eastern European dairy to a long list of purchases in this region in what has been a decade of expansion eastwards.

Meggle’s latest acquisition at the turn of the year is one of Serbia’s leading dairies, the 29 million litres per year Mlekara Mladost in Kragujevac where local cheeses, yogurt, cream and drinking milk are the main products.

As part of its professed aim of expanding milk market control in the east the family-run Meggle Group also bought Albania’s leading milk processor Ferlat in August 2010. Ferlat claimed at the time to be supplying 57% of the country’s UHT milk market.

Through its holding company Meggle Eastern Europe, the group also processes local milk in Croatia, Bosnia, Bulgaria and Slovakia.

The Meggle Group reported worldwide turnover of €700m in 2009.