CAMEMBERT , France ( CNN ) -- We 're up in the north central part of France -- Normandy -- to see what 's happening with French cheese . Cheese lovers will be happy to know , just about nothing , at least as far as the traditional cheeses are concerned . Cheese from the Camembert region now carries the same cachet as a chateau label for wine . But for the milk industry in general , it 's another story . It has now a larger annual turnover than the steel industry in France ( which admittedly is in decline . ) Somehow the French have figured a way to export dairy products to people who already have cows and their own dairy industries -- to the tune of nearly €4 billion ( $ 6 billion ) per year . CNN spoke to a few of the people who do just that everyday and who are part of the changing face of France . Philippe Meslon , the mayor of Saint-Loup de Fribois and the administrator of the Saint-Loup cheese works says : `` A camembert not made out of raw milk is like making love without sex . `` A Frenchman is someone who cultivates with modern evolution his past . It 's someone who protects moral values , cultural values and artistic values , and when I say cultural values I would include camembert . '' Meslon and small cheese makers like Francois Durand , who has 40 cows , have struggled and won the right to an Appelation d'Origine Controllee -- the mark AOC for their `` Camembert de Normandie '' which carries the same cachet as a chateau label for wine . For Durand making cheese is about not cutting corners . `` You have to have the passion , '' he says . `` Yes it 's difficult because it means a lot of work . We make it all by hand . I do believe it is important because the cheese is an emblem of France . It is a gastronomic emblem . '' Still some small cheesemakers have been driven out of business and the taste and smell of their particular cheeses are lost to the world forever . For Michel Delorme it was a combination of new , more stringent rules and his age that led him to quit producing his handmade Camemberts . Michel Delorme : `` It 's more and more complicated for those who stay in the business . They must hold out ! Yes I miss the cheese a little . That 's true . But I 've kept my souvenirs , you see I 've kept my old milk cans so I can stay in the spirit of Camembert ! '' Despite those who 've quit , the actual number of the variety of cheeses in France is growing . At the last cheese census more than 1,000 different kinds of cheeses were made here . The milk industry is no small cheese in France , thanks to the efforts of people like Philippe Jachnik who travels the world endlessly promoting milk products , which these days include protein supplements and milk derivatives that can go into all sorts of processed food . Jachnik , who works for the milk marketing consortium , says : `` I really would say I am selling the French approach to milk . We EAT a lot of milk . We DRINK a lot of water , wine , beer and coffee . But drinking milk is not a big business here . `` France has developed technological and marketing knowledge about adding value to a raw material -- milk . I have been traveling for 40 years all around the world and I feel so welcome . When you are French and you demonstrate that being French you can listen to others , people are interested in knowing about this country , about its people , about the way of life here . '' Jachnik must be doing a good job as it 's not just abroad that the French are selling more milk products -- cheese consumption in France has doubled from 12 to 24 kilos per person per year . It seems there 's no curding their enthusiasm ... E-mail to a friend .
Milk industry is booming in France , now has larger turnover than steel industry . Dairy industry worth nearly €4 billion , French eat around 1,000 kilos of dairy per person a year . Cheesemaker : Cheese is gastronomic emblem of Saint-Loup de Fribois . Last cheese census found 24 different kinds of cheeses in France .