Centrale del Latte d’Italia has signed a strategic partnership with Alibaba Group, world leader in online and mobile trading, for the sale of long-life full-cream milk on the Chinese market.

Centrale del Latte d’Italia (CLI) will be sold through Tmall, the largest b-to-c (business to consumer) Chinese e-commerce platform of Alibaba Group, which guarantees access to a potential market of over 460 million active consumers a year.
Through Tmall, Chinese consumers will have the opportunity to purchase 100% Italian long-life Mukki milk (UHT milk with a shelf life of 300 days), a Tuscan brand of CLI Group, synonymous with excellence and emblematic of Italian quality.
The products will be available in 1-litre packs and in the practical 200-millimetre packs designed for out-of-home consumption.
This agreement will allow Centrale del Latte d’Italia to exploit the e-commerce potential of a leading partner on the reference market in order to extend its exports to China, which began in 2014 through the traditional distribution channels.
“The partnership with Alibaba is a major opportunity for our growth. According to CLAL calculations, imports of UHT milk in China in the last 4 years have increased almost six-fold, and between 2015 and 2016, by 36.5%; these increases are due to an increasing demand from Chinese consumers for safe, quality food products. We believe our products and our brands are fully able to satisfy these demands”, said Luigi Luzzati, Chairman of Centrale del Latte d’Italia Group.
“We are particularly proud to announce this collaboration”, said Rodrigo Cipriani Foresio, Managing Director for Southern Europe of Alibaba Group. “Milk is one of the top-selling product categories on our platforms; during our Singles Day, for example, over 10 million litres of milk were sold in the space of just 24 hours. Thanks to this agreement, it will be possible to sell Mukki milk, closely linked with the Tuscany area, to the hundreds of thousands of Chinese consumers seeking to bring the best of Italian production into their homes”.
Centrale del Latte d’Italia, listed since 2001 on the STAR segment organised and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A., is the third player in Italy on the fresh and ESL milk market, with leadership positions in Piemonte, Liguria, Tuscany and Veneto.
With 5 factories and some 450 employees, the Group produces and sells more than 120 products, ranging from milk and milk products to yogurt, drinks of plant origin and fresh salads, distributed in the pertinent areas under the brand names TappoRosso, Mukki, Tigullio and Vicenza and sold both in traditional shops and large retail chains.

Media contacts

Centrale del Latte d’Italia
Barabino & Partners
Donata Astengo
e-mail: d.astengo@barabino.it
Tel. 010.272.50.48
Mob. 349.77.25.787

Alibaba Group
Image Building
Via Privata Maria Teresa, 11 – 20123 Milan – Italy
Tel. 0289011300 Fax: 0289011151
Email: alibaba@imagebuilding.it