DairyCo, the new name for the MDC, has just published liquid milk market data for the 12 months to April 2008. The analysts there tend to concentrate on annual figures but a better feel for trends can be got by looking at shorter term numbers, so here's an update on what has been happening over the last 3 months.
Sales of standard Pasteurised milk have dropped very slightly as retail prices have tipped over the 60p mark to average 61p per litre. This is the first hint that consumers might be buying a bit less in the face of continued price rises.
Organic sales have grown by a small amount with average prices being stable at around 76p per litre. This gives additional support to the theory that there won't be much change in organic sales until prices go over the 80p level, at which point the gap between standard and organic will be two price points (70p and 80p), and organic sales will drop again.
Filtered milk, with its selling benefit of staying fresher for longer, grew by 6%. This is still a growth rate that would please most people, but it is a substantial slowdown on previous trends which saw growth at over 20%. Filtered still sells at a 2p premium to standard.
Modified milk sales dropped by 9%, and although this decline is alot less than the 35% drop seen previously it does further indicate that consumers just don't want a natural food like milk to be tampered with.
And finally, Channel Islands milk sales and prices have not changed at all in the short term, and neither have Soya sales and prices.
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