Dairy Crest admits cheese is under performing

UK – Dairy Crest has said that the performance of its cheese business has suffered as a result of a drop in sales.

In a trading update, the company said that its volumes of its key Cathedral City cheese had been flat for the year, despite pre-pack volumes showing good growth.

It also said that it suffered in the second half of the financial year as a result of increased milk prices going into cheese.

The liquid products business performed well, with the market leader for fresh flavoured milk, Frijj, increasing its market share with increased volume sales.

However, even though the company expects to see good progress overall for 2002/03, it revealed concerns about the forthcoming year.

“The group expects to face an increasingly competitive retail environment and uncertainty in raw milk pricing as Common Agricultural Policy reform is implemented,” said the company statement.