DairyCo

Cheese Market

Published 25 January 10

Cheese Expenditure and Volume

Cheese sales for the 52 weeks ending 27 December 2009, when compared to the previous year:

• Total cheese sales have increased by 4.2% to 395,105 tonnes.
• The average price of a kilo of cheese has increased 0.4% to £6.01/kg.
• Loose cheese sales are falling at the expense of pre-packed cheese.
• Volume sales of cheddar have increased by 4.4%, with mature cheddar sales growing at the expense of mild and medium cheddar.
• The average price of branded cheddar cheese is now 6.7% lower than supermarket label cheddar and only 12.4% higher than value cheddar. This has seen sales of branded cheddar increase by 21.5% at the expense of value cheddar which has fallen 15.5%. 
• Sales of soft and processed cheeses have risen, while territorial cheese sales have fallen.

Total Cheese Market - Loose and Prepacked
Latest Kantar Worldpanel data shows that cheese sales have increased by 4.2% (15,926 tonnes) to 395,105 tonnes in the 52 weeks ending 27 December 2009, when compared to the same period in 2008. Sales have probably been helped by the very small rise in the average price, up 0.4% (£0.01/kg) to £6.01/kg. The rise in sales has seen the value of the cheese market increase by £104,428 (4.6%) to £2.4 billion.

As has been the case for the last four years, sales of loose cheese have continued to fall over the last year, with sales down 5.6% (1,392 tonnes) to 23,470 tonnes. At £6.97/kg loose cheese is now on average 17.1% more expensive than pre-packed cheese, which has probably contributed to its decline in sales. Pre-packed cheese sales have risen by 4.8% to 371,635 tonnes, the average price stands at £5.95/kg, £1.02/kg cheaper than loose cheese.

Cheddar Market - By Type and Brand

Total cheddar* sales have increased by 4.4% in the 52 weeks ending 27 December 2009, when compared to the same period in 2008. Total cheddar* volumes now stand at 214,927 tonnes, sales are likely to have been helped by the fall of 0.3% in the average price to £6.00/kg. There has been a considerable amount of promotional activity in the cheddar market over this period which has contributed to the fall in the average price of cheddar.

Sales of mild and medium cheddar have fallen by 9.3% and 13.5% respectively, with mature cheddar sales increasing by 22.1%. The majority of promotional activity in the cheddar market has been on branded mature cheddar, this has seen the average price of mature cheddar fall 4.0% (£0.25/kg) to £6.05/kg. Mature cheddar on average is now at a lower price than medium cheddar which stood at £6.29/kg, and is only 14.8% higher than mild cheddar. Three years ago mature cheddar had a premium of 38.4% above mild cheddar, this fall in premium helps to explain the switching from mild and medium cheddar to mature cheddar. 

* Please note - Total refers to all categories of cheddar. In addition to Mild, Medium and Mature; the Cheddar category includes: Extra Mature, Farmhouse, Full Flavour, Vintage and Other cheddar types.

Branded cheese sales continue to increase at the expense of value cheddar sales. The average price of branded cheddar has fallen by 4.5% in the last year to an average of £5.99/kg and is now 6.7% lower than supermarket label cheddar and only 12.4% higher than value cheddar. This has seen sales of branded cheddar increase by 21.5% (16,894 tonnes) to 95,472 tonnes at the expense of value cheddar which has fallen 15.5% (8,269 tonnes) to 45,078 tonnes.

Branded sales have been heavily influenced by promotional activity, which is likely to be the main factor in the fall of the average price per kilo. Despite branded cheddar being 6.7% (£0.43/kg) cheaper than standard supermarket cheddar, volume sales of standard supermarket cheddar rose by 0.7% (517 tonnes) to 74,377 tonnes, while the average price was also up £0.01/kg (0.2%) to £6.42/kg.  

* Note: Kantar Worldpanel re-weighted their data in March 2006, therefore a degree of caution should be taken when comparing figures reported after March 2006 with those reported prior to this re-weighting.

Other Cheese - Soft, Territorial and Processed Cheese

The volume of soft and processed cheese sold rose slightly in the 52 weeks ending 27 December 2009, while sales of territorial cheese fell slightly. Sales of territorial cheeses fell by 2.0% (790 tonnes) to 38,712 tonnes, sales may have been hit by the 5.7% (£0.34/kg) rise in the average price to £6.28/kg.

Despite the average price rise of 1.9% (£0.11/kg) to £6.00/kg, soft cheese sales have risen by 1.5% to 22,488 tonnes for the 52 weeks ending 27 December 2009, compared to the same period in 2008. Processed cheese sales have also risen, by 3.4% (1,314 tonnes) to 39,971 tonnes with the average price having fallen 0.1% to £5.98/kg. The processed cheese sector is now worth £239.0 million.

** Please note, Kantar Worldpanel definition of Territorial cheese includes 'other' British hard cheese which includes reduced-fat varieties of cheddar-type cheeses.