The big cheese show
This week I am at the International Cheese Awards in Nantwich. This is the first year I will be helping to judge, and I am looking forward to it. The opportunity to taste some of the 4,200 different cheeses is a thrilling one. It is also an opportunity to catch up with the industry and see how everyone is doing, now that dairy is post-quota and every country seems to have an export plan for its cheese products. As we have seen with Russia, even the best-laid export plans can result in unforeseen issues arising.
Then again, cheese itself is a rapidly changing market. While I sincerely doubt there will ever be a time when cheese is relegated to a niche player, the emergence of whey as an international powerhouse cannot be ignored. It is an interesting time to be in the business, and I am sure to be hearing a lot about what people are doing with their sites, as well as their product lines. I look forward to it.
Meanwhile, on the liquid dairy side, a2 is resisting takeover attempts by the US-based dairy giant Dean Foods. Points of difference mean profits in dairy, and a2 is proving itself to be an upmarket, viable alternative to the usual liquid product. I am not surprised it is attacting interest.
