What you need to know
The UK retail cheese market is expected to see a lacklustre sales performance in 2015, with flat value sales and marginal volume growth as falling raw material prices for dairy in the UK filter through to retail.
Cheddar, which accounts for almost half of the market by value sales, is set to register a value sales decline and only marginal volume growth. Other cheeses are faring better, with recipe and territorial cheeses in particular registering volume growth of more than 5%.
Increasing real wages offer opportunities for trading consumers up to more premium cheeses but operators can’t be complacent, and must also seek to boost volume sales by encouraging greater use of cheese in cooking and increased purchase by the young.
Products covered in this report
This report examines the UK retail market for cheese. Mintel’s definition includes products sold through the grocery retail channel and direct to consumers including:
Fresh cheese and cream cheese
Hard cheese and semi-hard cheese
Processed cheese
Soft cheese and semi-soft cheese.
The market size includes sales of cottage cheese, however, this is excluded from all other parts of the report, as it falls under the curd and quark category. Sales via catering or foodservice establishments are excluded, although references and comparisons to these sectors may be made where relevant.
