Coca-Cola Is Betting Big On A New Kind Of Milk That Costs Twice As Much As Regular

The product is called Fairlife and it will sell for twice the price of regular milk when it hits store shelves nationally in December, Coca-Cola's North American chief, Sandy Douglas said at Morgan Stanley's Global Consumer Conference last week.

"It's basically the premiumisation of milk," Douglas said.

The milk doesn't contain lactose and it has 50% more protein and calcium than regular milk, as well as 30% less sugar.

Fairlife is "a milk that's premiumize and tastes better and we'll charge twice as much for it as the milk we're used to buying in a jug," Douglas said, according to a transcript of his remarks.

The milk is made on a sustainable dairy farm with "fully sustainable high-care processes with animals" and "has a proprietary milk filtering process," he explained. "The test markets have been amazing, and we've created a joint venture with a bunch of dairy farmers who are innovative leaders in the dairy industry."

This is the beginning of a long-term investment in the dairy business for Coca-Cola.

"We're going to be investing in the milk business for a while to build the brand so it won't rain money in the early couple of years," Douglas said. "But like Simply [orange juice], when you do it well it rains money later."

Coca-Cola's investment comes at a tough time for the milk industry. Fluid milk sales have been declining for the last four decades.