Dairy retail performance – 13 June 2026

Cows' milk

Milk volumes declined by 0.9% year-on-year¹. Average prices increased by 5.6%, and as a result spend saw a 4.6% increase.

Declines were seen for semi-skimmed, skimmed, and plant-based milk. Whole milk continued to see volume growth, with a 1.7% increase year-on-year. Other cow milk was in growth this period, with volumes up 15.9%, driven mainly by higher purchase volumes per shop.

Cows' cheese

Cheese continued to deliver strong volume growth, with demand increasing by 2.3% year-on-year.¹ Increased promotional activity helped lower average prices by 0.7%, encouraging shoppers to buy an additional 2.6 million kg on deal.

The rise in volumes also supported value growth, with spend increasing by 1.6% over the period.

Other cows’ cheese (+12.0%), snacking (+5.3%) and speciality and continental (+2.5%) drove overall cows’ cheese performance. Cottage cheese (+1.7m kg) continued to be the key driver for other cow cheese performance, while kids snacking (+0.5m kg) drove the snacking category.

Within speciality and continental cheese, grated mozzarella was particularly important, with an additional 0.5m kg purchased year-on-year.

Cheddar, which represents a majority (43.9%) of all cow cheese volumes continued to see decline with a 1.0% decrease, primarily due to a reduction in volumes of mild block, grated and sliced Cheddar purchased.

Despite higher price points, extra mature, mature and vintage Cheddars all saw growth.

Cows' butter

Butter saw a 1.0% decrease in volumes purchased year-on-year¹. Spend saw a 3.7% decrease, mainly driven by average price reductions of 2.8% year-on-year, with decreases in wholesale price feeding through to shoppers, as we predicted back in December.

Block butter continues to be the only subcategory to see volume growth (+4.9%). However, this growth was not enough to offset the decline in butter spread volumes (-3.7%).

Cows’ yogurt, yogurt drinks and fromage frais

Yogurt, yogurt drinks and fromage frais continued to see growth, with volumes up 6.6% year-on-year. Average prices also increased, up by 2.4%, and as a result spend increased 9.2% year-on-year¹. 

Almost all subcategories saw growth, with kids’ yogurts year-on-year growth increasing for the first time since January 2026, and standard flavoured seeing positive year-on-year growth for the first time since December 2024, aided by an increase in promotional activities in the latest period.

Cows' cream

Cream volumes saw a 2.8% decrease year-on-year¹. Average prices increased by 3.5%, and as a result spend increased by 0.6%.

Whipping cream was the only subcategory in cream to see volume growth, with an additional 7k L (+3.2%) purchased year-on-year.

Aerosol continued to record the largest actual volume decline (163k L). While higher levels of promotional activity was seen compared to previous years, the decrease in volumes may reflect shifting consumer preference towards less processed foods.

See the full data and these insights visualised on our GB household dairy purchases retail dashboard.

¹ NIQ Homescan POD, Total GB, 12 w/e 13 June 2026

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