The global milk drinks market

Global consumption of milk drinks has risen by 13% from 214 billion litres in 2002 to 242 billion litres in 2007, according to a report from Zenith International.

“Asia has seen the most consistent growth, mainly due to booming demand in China,” commented Zenith dairy market intelligence manager Esther Renfrew. “Consumption in Asia/Australasia has increased from 18.3 L/person in 2002 to 22.9 L in 2007.” Milk sales have also advanced, but at a slower rate, in more developed markets.

Flavoured milk accounted for 4.7% of global milk drink volume in 2007. Growing fastest is the Middle East, where it has a share of 8.5%. In the past five years, flavoured milk volumes have grown by 2% in West Europe and by more than 10% in Latin America.

The Zenith report identifies a number of economic factors influencing the global milk drinks market, including:

• Demand and supply instability creating uncertainty over prices;
• Industry consolidation, leading to the emergence of stronger international leaders; and,
• Free trade impediments from subsidies, quotas, price fixing and tariffs, such that only 7% of world milk production is traded internationally.

In order to meet growing competition from other drinks, particularly in developed countries, producers have increasingly focused on adding functionality — in one year, over 2300 new functional dairy drinks were launched. Although functional milk drinks are still a niche segment, volumes are growing fast.

Zenith’s 2008 Global Milk Drinks report also finds that:

• Asia/Australasia was responsible for 35% of global milk drinks consumption in 2007, followed by West Europe on 16.5% and Latin America with 13%.
• India topped the national leader board at 37,000 million litres in 2007.
• The US was the leading market for flavoured milk at 1600 million litres.
• Global milk drinks volumes are forecast to rise by 19% in the five years to 2012.