A burst of flavour leads fluid milk sales

Fluid milk consumption has been on the decline for decades, but some milk categories are bucking that trend. In the year that ended on 1 November 2015, flavoured milk came out as the real winner. According to data from Information Resources Inc, flavoured milk sales climbed 6% to $1,4 billion (R21,5 billion). Unit sales for the category, which includes flavoured milk, eggnog and buttermilk, jumped 6,5%, to $660,5 million (R10 billion). The data also revealed that for reasons of health concerns people are also turning to more whole-milk options. Even though whole-milk dollar sales fell by 1,3% to $4,7 billion (R72,1 billion), unit sales rose by 3,6% to $1,5 billion (R23 billion). Meanwhile, sales were slim for skim milk. Low-fat and skim milk dollar sales dropped 10%, to $9,4 billion (R144,3 billion) last year. Unit sales were also down by 4,8%, landing at $3,1 billion (R47,6 billion). Overall, there is work to do in the fluid milk category. Milk sales were down by 5,2% in 2015, to $17,1 billion (R262,5 billion), and unit sales dropped by 0,7% to $5,8 billion (R89 billion). Still, as shown with the positive growth in both flavoured and whole milk, there are windows of opportunity in fluid milk we have just started to open. –Hoards Dairyman. To read more about this, click HERE