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DAIRY SALES SOAR DURING LOCKDOWN

UNITED KINGDOM / AGILITYPR.NEWS / July 31, 2020 / As the Milk Your Moments Campaign draws to a close this week Kantar data shows huge spikes in sales of core dairy items through the peak of lockdown.


As the joint funded marketing campaign, Milk Your Moments, draws to a close today, data has revealed how consumers chose to consume and connect over their favourite dairy based foods, to get them through lockdown.


Kantar data has shown that a huge 2.9 billion cups of tea and 1.7 billion cups of coffee were drunk over the peak lockdown period, increases of 21% and 19% respectively. Figures also show the overwhelming popularity of milk, with 94% of UK households purchasing milk over the last four weeks compared with only 16% buying a dairy alternative.


Cheese has also seen unprecedented increases in sales, with consumption of cheese increasing 48% during lockdown as people found themselves making their own sandwiches and lunches as well as in scratch cooking such as homemade pizza, which saw a 235% jump in online conversations. Home cooking and the craze for banana bread also caused sales of butter to spike in the week of 22nd March, with a year on year increase of 69% in weekly sales.


Commenting, chief executive Dr Judith Bryans said: “Clearly when it mattered most, consumers turned to the foods they know, trust and enjoy when they were in the height of lockdown. We all came together to make this campaign happen and we should be incredibly proud how its created positivity for dairy and increased awareness around mental health issues, during such an uncertain time. We should also see it at a starting block to future because we need to talk to our consumers on an ongoing basis.”


Rebecca Miah, AHDB head of dairy marketing said: “The Milk Your Moments campaign was hugely important, to not only support our industry in difficult circumstances, but to give back to our loyal consumers in a time of national crisis. Understanding that dairy has such a crucial part to play in human connection as well as nutrition is a real step change for the dairy industry, and we should continue to be proud of our importance to society, with these strong growth numbers demonstrating the fact”.


The campaign finishes today after last week successfully hitting its target of raising £100,000 in support of the UK’s leading mental health charity Mind. Donations were generated through visits to the Milk Your Moments microsite and by encouraging text donations.



Data This research was commissioned by Milk Your Moments in support of Mind, the mental health charity. Kantar data covers the eight weeks from 17th May 2020.


The social data searched Twitter and provided stats for 546,506 unique authors during the timeline 12th March – 18th June 2020 and looked at the key lockdown moments.

About Us

About AHDB

AHDB is a statutory levy board, funded by farmers, growers and others in the supply chain. Our purpose is to inspire our farmers, growers and industry to succeed in a rapidly changing world. We equip the industry with easy to use, practical know-how which they can apply straight away to make better decisions and improve their performance. Established in 2008 and classified as a Non-Departmental Public Body, it supports the following industries: meat and livestock (cattle, sheep and pigs) in England; horticulture, milk and potatoes in Great Britain; and cereals and oilseeds in the UK. AHDB’s remit covers 72 per cent of total UK agricultural output. Further information on AHDB can be found at www.ahdb.org.uk.

About Dairy UK

Dairy UK is a processor-led organisation representing farmer-owned co-ops and private dairy companies producing safe, nutritious, and sustainable dairy foods. Our members collect and process about 81% of the milk produced in the UK. Our overarching mission at Dairy UK is to promote the consumption of great tasting British dairy products at home and on the international market. Dairy UK has strong partnerships with processors, farmers and stakeholders along the entire supply chain, and works to promote the goodness of dairy. We also work with MPs and with the government to promote a better understanding of the dairy sector and its products.

About the Milk Your Moments Campaign

The campaign is the result of a partnership between the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Dairy UK and a number of dairy processors, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. You can read the full list of funders here.

www.milkyourmoments.co.uk

 

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