Italian dairy product sales in the retail channel (excluding discount stores) amounted to €6.5 billion in 2017, registering a 1.8% drop in the three-year period from 2015 to 2017.
Although cheese sales increased by about €70 million compared to 2016, sales of milk (-€10 million) and yogurt (-€18 million) contracted, due to the rise in lactose intolerance products, as well as products geared towards ‘healthy’ consumption.
The figures were published by the Italian Dairy Association (Assolatte), based on research conducted by the Research Centre on Retailing and Marketing (Rem Lab) of the Catholic University of Milan.
Strong Performers
The top selling dairy products in terms of value sales are UHT milk, accounting for more than €961 million in sales, generating almost 15% of the turnover of the entire dairy sector.
In second place is mozzarella, the most popular cheese in Italy with 77 different product references, on which Italians spent €809 million in 2017.
Fresh milk is in third place with almost €715 million in sales, with a share close to 11% of total dairy sales. Together, UHT and fresh milk account for more than 25% of the total sales of dairy products in the retail channel in Italy.
In fourth place are hard grating cheeses such as Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano, with €511 million in sales and 7.8% share of the total category.
Other strong performers include categories such as whole yoghurt (€431 million, 6.6%); functional yogurt (€400 million), butter (€313 million); whole or proportioned table cheeses (€244 million); fresh cheeses (€277 million) and crescenza or stracchino cheese (€212 million).
Growth Projections
Across a three-year period, the best performers in growth terms were UHT-based beverages (+7.6% to €9.5 million); condensed and powdered milk (+9.3% to €6.4 million) and hard grating cheeses (+12.1%).
Price-wise, the highest growth during 2015-2017 was in the butter and margarine categories (+16.6% and +12.9%, respectively). On the other hand, all yogurt segments saw a price deflation, especially Greek (-7.8%), drinking (-6.6%) and lean (-4.7%).
Private Label
Private label is also a strong performer in dairy, the findings show: private label brands contribute 19.1% of the total sales of dairy products in the grocery sector, a share that grew by one percentage point over the period 2015-2017.
In some segments, private label holds a leading position, such as grated cheese (Grana Padano and similar), sliced and whole/portioned table cheese, butter and low-fat yoghurt.
At the same time, however, own-brand penetration is very limited or zero as in the case of condensed and powdered milk, industrial fresh cheeses and drinking yogurt.
The category where private label market share has increased the most is Greek yogurt (+6.4%).
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
