Multinational dairy and mineral water company, Danone, sees further recovery of its infant formula business in Asia, which drove a 40.8% increase in group sales in the first quarter of this year.

The Pasis-based company, which has Irish plants also, achieved sales of €5.47bn from January to March 2015, up from €5.06bn in quarter 1 2014.

Danone manufacture 80% of its base powder in Macroom Co Cork for sister baby sites within the group. The powder is destined for the likes of France, Germany, Russia, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and New Zealand. Its Wexford site also produces base powder for the company’s export operations as well as producing consumer packs for leading infant milk brands including Aptalmil, Cow & Gate, Nutrilon.

In China, Danone infant formula brands continued to benefit from category growth, with e-commerce expanding rapidly.

Nutrilon Platinum infant formula, launched by Danone in China in early 2014 continued to win market share among specialized distribution stores.

However, sales of Dumex, which was impacted by the Fonterra whey protein concentrate botulism scare, remained well below levels in early 2013.

The company had double-digit growth in infant formula in EU, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Danone’s fresh dairy sales were down but Medical Nutrition and water divisions were up.