Butter continues to be the most popular type of spread among Irish consumers, with strong levels of interest in natural and unprocessed foods helping to sustain usage among consumers – while brand loyalty among butter users is notably stronger compared to some other dairy products.

• What types of butters and spreads do Irish consumers use? –Which butter brands are the most used by consumers? How does use of non-butter spreads compare to butter spreads?

• What impact will farmer protests over milk pricing have on the butter industry? – Will consumers show willingness to buy butter and other dairy products that guarantee a minimum price paid to farmers – or will minimising their grocery bills remain a key concern?

• What opportunities are there for manufacturers to engage in NPD in butters and spreads? – How can brands innovate to add value to the butters and spreads category?

This report covers the NI and RoI retail market for butters and spreads, focusing on butters and spreads to be used at home. Butter usage and sales data for butter used via foodservice establishments is not examined within this report.

Industry definitions of butter, margarine and spreads are as follows:

• Butter – The product with a milk fat content of not less than 80% but less than 90%, a maximum water content of 16% and a maximum dry non-fat milk-material content of 2%.

• Half-fat butter – The product with a milk fat content of not less than 39% but not more than 41%.

• Dairy spread – The product with the following milk fat contents: less than 39%; more than 41% but less than 60%; more than 62% but less than 80%.

• Margarine – The product obtained from vegetable and/or animal fats with a fat content of not less than 80% but less than 90%.

• Half-fat margarine – The product obtained from vegetable and/or animal fats with a fat content of not less than 39% but not more than 41%.

• Fat spreads – The product obtained from vegetable and/or animal fats with the following fat contents: less than 39%; more than 41% but less than 60%; more than 62% but less than 80%.

• The product claim ‘High in polyunsaturates/monounsaturates’ (normally accompanied by ‘low in saturates’) refers to a product which contains at least 35% fat by weight, of which at least 45% of the fatty acids are polyunsaturated/monounsaturated and not more than 25% of the fatty acids are saturated and trans-fat.

• The product claim ‘Low in saturates’ refers to a product where the fat contains not more than 25% saturated and trans-fat.

For the purposes of this report sweet spreads include jam, marmalade, honey, peanut butter/nut spreads, chocolate/chocolate and nut spreads.

The Market Size and Forecast section of this report includes estimates for the value of the all-Ireland retail butter and spreads market including both NI and RoI data. Trade sources and government statistics have been used to verify market estimates, and have also been used for market forecasts.

Other Mintel reports of relevance include:

• Milk and Cream – Ireland, April 2014

• Attitudes to Food – Ireland, August 2013

• Cheese – Ireland, May 2015.

Please note that in the Market Size and Forecast section of this report, data is forecast by projecting how this particular market will progress based on various independent macroeconomic variables. Mintel uses economic data collected on inflation, population, exchange rate and GDP to run a multivariate linear regression and trend function. With this function Mintel is able to forecast future market sizes and interpret the results based on the above variables including other independent factors that could change the future market. (Economic data is collected from NISRA, ONS, CSO and other statistical sources.)

For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive online consumer research into Irish consumers’ consumption of and attitudes towards butter and spreads. The research was carried out by Toluna on behalf of Mintel in July 2015.

A total of 1,350 RoI and 650 NI internet users aged 16+ were asked questions including:

“Thinking about butter, butter-like spreads and other spreads, which if any of the following have you bought to use at home in the last six months?”

“Thinking about the last six months, how often do you personally eat/use butter, butter-like spreads and other spreads (eg chocolate, jam, marmalade etc)?”

“Now thinking specifically about butter and butter-like spreads, which of the following brands have you used in the last six months?”

“Thinking specifically about butter and butter-like spreads, which of the following statements, if any, do you agree with?” 

“Now thinking specifically about butter and butter-like spreads (eg made with vegetable fats, olive spread etc), which of the following, if any, would you be most interested in buying?”

The results from this survey are discussed in The Consumer sections of this report.

Mintel also draws consumer insight from other sources such as Mintel’s trend database and previous Mintel reports from the UK and Ireland.

Please note that the results presented in The Consumer sections of this report relate to the usage and habits of Irish internet users only, and do not account for the behaviours of non-internet users. Eurostat (January 2015) highlights that 80% of RoI consumers have used the internet in the last 12 months, while the Office for National Statistics (ONS, May 2014) highlights that 79% of NI consumers have used the internet.

In compiling this report, Mintel has gathered data from separate NI and RoI sources (eg NISRA – Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and CSO – Central Statistics Office). In some cases therefore it has not been possible to provide comparable data for each region.

For the purposes of this report:

• Ireland refers to the island of Ireland

• NI refers to Northern Ireland

• RoI refers to the Republic of Ireland

• Therefore, ‘Irish consumers’ refers to both NI and RoI consumers.