Dairy retail performance – 28 December 2024

Spend on cow's milk continues to decrease (-5.4%) and despite an increase in shopper numbers, volumes purchased declined by 1.9% year-on-year (52 w/e 28 December 2024, NIQ Homescan POD, Total GB). Declines were seen for both semi-skimmed and skimmed cow’s milk, while whole milk continued to see volume growth (+2.5%) due to an increase in buyers. 

Cow’s cheese remains in volume growth, up 4.5% year-on-year, and spend increased by 2.8% despite average prices decreasing by 1.6% (52 w/e 28 December 2024, NIQ Homescan POD, Total GB). Cheddar, which represents 41.8% of all cow cheese volumes, saw a 5.0% increase in volumes sold due to an increase in volumes purchased per buyer. Cheddar (+5.7%), specialty and continental (+3.8%) and stilton and British blue cheeses (+4.3%) were also seen to perform well at Christmas 2024 (4 w/e 28 December 2024, NIQ Homescan POD, Total GB), as we had anticipated in our pre-Christmas predictions.

Cow's butter, at a total level, saw a volume decline of 3.4% and a spend decline of 1.4% (52 w/e 28 December 2024, NIQ Homescan POD, Total GB), driven primarily by a decline in volume sales of butter spreads (-7.1%). Block butter, however, continued to see volume increases of 6.4%.  Plant-based spread volumes also continued to increase (+8.2%), potentially driven by lower average prices. 

Cow's yogurt, yogurt drinks and fromage frais volumes continue to grow (+6.3%), with spend increasing by 7.9% (52 w/e 28 December 2024, NIQ Homescan POD, Total GB). Virtually all yogurt products saw volume growth during the period. Healthy, fat-free, standard plain and standard flavoured cow’s yogurts, which represent 67.7% of cow yogurt volumes, all saw the greatest actual increases in volumes purchased of the category. 

Cow's cream volumes grew by 2.5% year-on-year, primarily driven by increased frequency of purchase (52 w/e 28 December 2024, NIQ Homescan POD, Total GB). Double, sour cream and crème fraiche all experienced volume growth. 

See the full data and these insights visualised on our GB household dairy purchases retail dashboard. 

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