Why consumers are spending more on dairy

Australians spent nearly $800 million on butter and blends — up 10.5 per cent — while they forked out more than $1.4 billion for yoghurt.

Returning to the workplace is behind shoppers’ drive to dairy produce, despite cost-of-living pressures.

That’s the opinion of retail analysts as Australian dairy consumption defies the belt-tightening of the past two years due to inflationary pressure on household budgets.

New figures released by Dairy Australia show cheese consumption rose a modest 1.7 per cent in the 12 months to March 2024, with shoppers snapping up 162 kilotonnes of cheddar, feta and mozzarella.

Volumes sold of butter and butter blends is also up 0.8 per cent year-on-year to March 2024, to now sit at 58 kilotonnes, while yoghurt is up 1.6 per cent to reach 186 kilotonnes for the annual survey period.

Dairy Australia analyst Eliza Redfern said Melburnians, Sydneysiders and other suburban commuters were returning to more regular work patterns.

“The convenience of yoghurt means its often bought as a midmorning snack or part of the office lunch. Cheese is also an easy packed lunch option,” Ms Redfern said.

“During the coronavirus period with lockdowns, many Australians worked from home and that altered dairy consumption patterns. There appears to be more predictability now with that return to work routine.”

The only dairy category to decline year-on-year to March 2024 was milk, with consumption down 1.5 per cent to sit at 1.38 billion litres.

However, Nielsen Homescan found the take-home value across all four surveyed categories was up over the same period, meaning even if people were drinking less milk, they were spending more overall on the refrigerator staple.

More than $2.86 billion was spent on milk between March 2023 and March 2024, up 4.3 per cent. The surveyed period coincided with a rise in the price of generic milk at Aldi, Coles and Woolworths from $1.50 to $1.60, with Coles rising again to $1.70 per litre for several months.

The biggest dollar generator in the survey was cheese, with more than $2.87 billion spent in the 12 month period, up 13.1 per cent.

Australians spent nearly $800 million on butter and blends — up 10.5 per cent — while they forked out more than $1.4 billion for yoghurt, which was up 8.0 per cent during the surveyed period.