Dairy retail performance - 11 July 2026

Cows' milk

Milk volumes declined by 1.0% year-on-year, around 8.7 m litres. This was possibly due to average prices increasing by 3.9% and as a result, spend increased by 2.9%.¹

Volume declines were seen for semi-skimmed and skimmed.

Plant based also declined in the period, losing 1.0% litres year-on-year.

Whole milk continued to see volume growth, with a 1.4% increase year-on-year. Other cow milk was in growth this period, with volumes up 10.5%.¹

Cows' cheese

Cow cheese benefited from lower average prices (-1.2%), encouraging shoppers to buy an extra 2.8 million kg and driving volume growth of 2.8% year-on-year.¹

The rise in volumes also supported value growth, with spend increasing by 1.6% year-on-year. ¹

Other cow cheese (+12.4%), snacking (+5.4%) and speciality and continental (+3.3%) were the main drivers of overall cow cheese growth. Within other cow cheese, cottage cheese remained the standout performer, with shoppers purchasing an extra 1.9 million kg year-on-year.¹

Despite accounting for 43.2% of all cow cheese volumes, cheddar volumes declined by 0.7% year-on-year. This was driven mainly by lower purchases of mild grated cheddar, mild cheddar and sliced mild. However, mature cheddars bucked the trend, with extra mature, sliced mature and block mature seeing the greatest volume increases.¹

Cows' butter

Butter saw a 1.5% decrease in volumes purchased year-on-year¹. Spend saw a 4.6% decrease, mainly driven by average price reductions of 3.2% year-on-year, ¹ 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 (+4.5%), as the number of buyers increases by 4.3%. However, this growth was not enough to offset the decline in butter spread volumes (-4.1%).¹

Cows’ yoghurt, yoghurt drinks and fromage frais

Yoghurt, yoghurt drinks and fromage frais continued to see growth, with volumes up 8.0% year-on-year. Average prices also increased, up by 2.0%, and as a result spend increased 10.2% year-on-year¹. 

Most of the growth came from shoppers buying yoghurt more often and in greater volumes each time they shopped. The number of shoppers also increased. Healthy (+14.4%), standard plain (+21.4%) and fat free (+10.5%) yoghurt were among the strongest performing subcategories.¹  This reflects wider consumer trends towards natural, high protein foods that support health and gut health, as well as demand for less processed products.

Cows' cream

Cream volumes fell by 1.2% year-on-year.¹ This was a smaller decline than in the previous period. Spend rose by 1.7%, while average prices increased by 2.9%.¹

Volume growth was seen in several subcategories, including clotted (0.9%), double (1.7%), sour cream (0.7%) and whipping (3.8%).¹

Aerosol continued to record large volume declines (13.2% year-on-year). ¹ This decrease in volumes may reflect shifting attitudes by consumers towards ultra process 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 11 July 2026                           

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