ABSTRACT
The dairy industry is a major industry of the food sector in many European Union countries. In the mid-19th century, after the establishment of the modern Greek State, farmers' co-operatives and individual merchants financed an expansion of dairy farms' production facilities in many Greek locations. The Association of Greek Dairy Manufacturers has been relatively active in assisting producers and promoting dairy consumption, even with selective advertising campaigns. Dairy products are very often sold to countries in close proximity to the exporting country. Overall growth of Greek demand in the 1980s and 1990s, and especially rapidly increasing demand for 'industrial' dairy products, has helped the industry expansion and promoted the required innovations in process and product technology. Greek immigrants abroad were the first source of demand for exports of Greek dairy products and especially Greek cheeses. The increased competitiveness of the Greek dairy industry coincides with an increase in exports for the whole cluster in the 1990s.
