Food Bites: Yoghurt growth slows

BRAND ACTIVITY

Nov 15th 2011, 08:27

The overall demand for cultured dairy products continues to increase and the yoghurt market plays an integral part within this. The category has seen consistent growth since BMI tracking started in 1998. However, the overall annual growth rate has slowed down in the last five years, with the market in 2009 in particular showing a very small volume increase.

Yoghurt growth slows

• While the category growth has slowed, market movement is still positive, albeit limited. This is in stark contrast to the healthy growth seen in previous years.

• The base year saw a volume growth of 3.8% as the overall economy improved, and the yoghurt market is expected to grow by 4.2% and 5.0% in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Per capita consumption of yoghurt also increased in 2010.

• There has been a move to smaller pack sizes with the convenience of the multipack, and this trend is ongoing with half of the product volume now in packaging of 100g or less, most of these available as multipacks.

• The positioning of yoghurt as natural prebiotics and probiotics that are beneficial for the maintenance of natural flora while on antibiotics has proved beneficial and is aided by the continued trend towards healthier eating choices. Yoghurt becomes a better choice as it provides products with reduced fat, fat free, reduced sucrose and sucrose free formats and contains little, if any, trans-fats.

Read more about trends within the yoghurt category in the Annual Market Quantification (September 2011) presented by BMI. Click here for more information on BMI Research