European survey shows downward dairy trend

The latest consumer survey from GfK indicates that household expenditure for dairy products dropped from 9 to 6% in main continental European markets between 2008 and 2010. While most household cash was paid for dairy products in Italy (an estimated EUR580 for this year), this was down by 9% on what had been spent in the same country two years ago.

Spanish and Austrian households were identified in the survey as the next biggest spenders on milk, yogurts, cheese, etc., with respectively EUR450 (minus 6% on 2008) and EUR400 (minus 9%) per household. The power of the discounters in keeping retail prices really low is claimed to be the reason for Germany lying in fourth place only with an annual household dairy budget of just EUR315 reckoned for this year.

Average household expenditure on dairy products:

Italy Spain Austria Germany Poland
2010 (EUR) 580 450 400 315 192
2008 (EUR) 640 480 440 335 190

Sources: GfK Panel Services/Kantar Worldpanel/Europanel.