According to Dairy Foods, cottage cheese has become one of the main drivers of growth in the US fermented milk products segment, with sales in the category exceeding $2 billion for the first time.
During the March webinar hosted by Dairy Foods on ‘Product Development Trends’, John Crawford noted that cottage cheese and yoghurt are currently in the highest demand. According to him, cream cheese and sour cream could be the next strong segments.
According to Circana, yoghurt sales for the 52 weeks ending 22 February reached $13.1 billion, up 14% on the previous year. Sales in volume terms rose by 6% to nearly 4.6 billion units.
However, it was cottage cheese that emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments. Sales in this category rose by 19% in monetary terms—to nearly $2.1 billion—while sales volumes reached 635 million units (+14%).
Among the companies, private labels performed best, along with Daisy Brand, Lactalis Heritage Dairy, Good Culture, Kemps, and Darigold.
Private labels remained the largest segment, with sales of $673 million (+10%). Sales by volume rose by 7% to 225 million units.
Daisy Brand has become the second-largest brand in the category. Its sales of cottage cheese rose by 25% to $441 million, whilst unit sales increased by 22% to 139 million units.
Lactalis Heritage Dairy reported a 28% increase in sales to $284 million, whilst unit sales rose by 14%.
Good Culture increased its revenue by 24% to $233 million, and its volume sales by 17%.
Kemps reported a 32% increase in sales to $59 million, whilst Darigold led the way in terms of growth: the brand’s sales rose by 34% to $55 million.
The sour cream segment showed more mixed results. Total sales rose by 2% to $1.94 billion, but sales in volume terms fell slightly, by 0.7%.
Daisy Brand remained the category leader, with sales exceeding $1.1 billion. Meanwhile, Lala Branded Products emerged as one of the fastest-growing players, with the brand’s sales rising by 45%.
In the cream cheese segment, the situation was less positive. Total sales fell by 3% to just under $3 billion, whilst volumes declined by 0.3%.
Cream cheese-brick remained the largest segment, with sales of $1.3 billion. Kraft Heinz emerged as the category leader, although its sales fell slightly.
At the same time, some brands showed rapid growth. Tillamook County Creamery Association increased its sales by 38%, whilst Flora Food Group saw an 83% rise.
Within the cream cheese-soft subcategory, Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery saw the fastest growth, with sales increasing by 50%.
The whipped cream cheese segment also showed positive growth: sales rose by 2% to $362 million, whilst volumes increased by 4%.
The cream cheese-all other forms subcategory performed best, with sales rising by 7% and volume increasing by as much as 65%.
Small specialist brands in particular showed a sharp rise in sales. Fromageries Bel increased its sales by 149%, El Latino Foods by 199%, whilst the Canadian company Nuts For Cheese recorded record growth of over 5,300% in monetary terms.
Source: Dairy Foods
