Dairy retail performance 14 June 2025

Cow’s milk volumes continued to decrease, seeing a 2.6% year-on-year decline (NIQ, 52 w/e 14 June 2025) with a corresponding decline in spend of 1.4%, driven by a decline in frequency of purchase and volumes purchased per trip. Semi-skimmed cow’s milk, which represents 58.3% of all cow’s milk volumes, saw a 4.0% decline in volumes, while whole milk continued to see volume growth (+2.0%) due to an increase in shopper numbers.

Cow’s cheese remained in volume growth, up 2.9% year-on-year, with spend during the period increasing by 3.0% (NIQ, 52 w/e 14 June 2025). Cheddar, which represents 41.6% of all cow cheese volumes, saw a 3.9% increase in volumes. British regionals saw a 5.4% decrease in volumes driven by a loss of shoppers and volume per shop, while Stilton and British Blue cheese saw a 1.2% decrease in volume driven by a loss of shoppers and lower frequency of purchase. Processed cheese also saw a decrease in volumes (-1.6%) despite a -3.8% decrease in average price. Plant based cheese volumes continued in steep decline (-17.3%).

Cow’s butter, at a total level, experienced a 2.3% decline in volume but a 6.4% increase in spend, which was driven by 8.9% increase in average price paid (NIQ, 52 w/e 14 June 2025). Cow butter spreads, which represent 69% of all cow’s butter volumes, saw a volume decrease of 5.7%. Block butter, however, continued to see volume increases of 6.0%, driven by an increase in shopper numbers and an increase in shopper frequency of purchase.  Plant-based spread volumes saw modest declines of -0.7% despite a -2.5% decrease in average price.  

Cow's yoghurt, yoghurt drinks and fromage frais volumes continue to see growth (+5.9%), with spend increasing by 9.2% (NIQ, 52 w/e 14 June 2025).  All products saw volume growth during the period, apart from fromage frais (-9.9%) and standard flavoured yogurts (-1.1%). Cow’s fat free yoghurt saw the greatest actual growth with an additional 13.5m kilos purchased year-on-year (+9.0%), while cow’s standard plain yoghurt saw the fastest growth of 23.7% year-on-year.

Cow's cream volumes experienced a 1.4% increase year-on-year, driven by increased frequency of purchase and increase in volume purchased per shop (NIQ, 52 w/e 14 June 2025). Clotted (+4.2%), double (+3.7%) and sour cream (+5.3%) all experienced volume growth and drove overall cow cream performance.

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

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