Spend on cow dairy products in Great Britain has increased by 6% year-on-year, driven by a 7.3% increase in average prices, analysis shows.
In an update on dairy retail performance, Elisya Zain, retail and consumer insight analyst with the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB), said consumer data from NielsenIQ Homescan (NIQ) shows that in the year to October 4, volumes of dairy declined by 1.2% year-on-year.
Zain said that milk volumes continued to decrease 2.7% year-on-year while spend increased by 1.1% due to a 3.9% increase in average prices paid.
“Declines were seen for semi-skimmed and skimmed milk,” she said.
“Other cows’ milk and whole milk continued to see volume growth, the latter seeing a 2.3% increase year-on-year (26.5 million litres), due to an increase in shoppers.
“Other animal sourced milk also saw volume growth this period while plant-based milks saw decline.”
Other dairy products
Cheese remained in volume growth, seeing a 1.6% increase, with spend up 5.3% year-on-year, the NIQ consumer data shows.
“Cheddar, which represents a majority (45.2%) of all cow cheese volumes, saw a slight increase in volumes (0.1%),” Zain said.
“Snacking (+2.5%), specialty and continental (+3.2%), and other cheese (+7.4%) also saw volume growth with cottage cheese driving growth within other cows’ cheese.
“This growth offset declines in British regionals, processed, and Stilton and British blue.”
Butter saw a 2.3% decrease in volumes purchased, however, spend saw a 9.5% increase year-on-year, driven by a 12.1% increase in average prices paid.
Yoghurt, yoghurt drinks and fromage frais volumes continued to experience growth this period (6.3%), driven by an increase in shopper numbers and volumes purchased per buyer, the consumer data shows.
