Dairy Product Manufacturers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 1,150 dairy product manufacturers in the US produce dairy products from raw milk, processed milk, and dairy substitutes. Fluid milk products include milk of varying fat content, milk substitutes, cream, cottage cheese, sour cream, and yogurt. Other major product categories are cheese and cheese-substitute products; dry, condensed, and evaporated products; creamery butter; and ice cream and frozen dessert products.
Food Safety Compliance
Dairy foods are among the most regulated foods in the US, due to the fact that raw milk can contain any number of dangerous pathogenic organisms.
Falling Milk Consumption
Per capita, fluid milk consumption in the US has been trending downward for more than 70 years and fell at a faster rate during the 2010s than in each of the previous six decades.
Industry size & Structure
The average dairy product manufacturer has about 143 employees, operates a single location and generates $113 million in annual revenue.
- The industry consists of about 1,150 companies employing 165,000 workers and generating $130 billion in annual revenue.
- There are about 245 fluid milk processors employing about 54,200 workers.
- There are about 400 cheese manufacturers with 56,790 employees.
- The 385 ice cream and frozen dessert manufacturers in the US employ about 22,125 workers.
- The dairy product manufacturing industry is highly concentrated - the top 20 companies account for 51% of industry revenue.
- Large US dairy product manufacturers include Nestle USA, Dean Foods, Schreiber Foods, Land O'Lakes, and Kraft Heinz Foods.
Industry Forecast
Dairy Product Manufacturers Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Jun 23, 2024 - Producer Price Stability
- Dairy products inventories and shipments fell about 1% in March compared to a year ago but were up versus February, according to the US Census Bureau. Producer prices for dairy products manufacturers were flat year over year (YoY) after falling 4.7% in the previous annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Meanwhile, employment by the industry grew 1.6% in April YoY, and average industry wages rose 9.2% over the same period to $27.85 per hour, according to BLS data.
- A new study examining which label claims and product attributes matter most to dairy shoppers finds that animal welfare ranks above sustainability and “organic” matters the least, according to Dairy Reporter. More than 3,000 consumers across five European countries (UK, Czechia, Sweden, Spain, and Switzerland) were asked to rank 18 product attributes in order of importance as drivers of dairy purchases. They ranked as follows: freshness, quality and taste, animal welfare, healthy eating, nutrition, outdoor-reared/free-range, price, locally produced, fairtrade, processing, pasture-fed, sustainable packaging, food miles, special offers, carbon footprint, convenience of use, familiarity or brand, and, lastly, organic. In the US, market research by NielsenIQ and McKinsey of five years of US consumer spending data found consumers shifting spending toward products with sustainable claims in two-thirds of food categories, including cheese and yogurt, according to DR.
- Bird flu has been detected in 118 dairy cow herds in a dozen states, the USDA reported in June, and the number of infected herds continues to grow. It’s the first time highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which is highly fatal to birds, has been identified in cows. In several cases, the virus was detected in unpasteurized samples of milk collected from sick cows, The New York Times reports. Experts said pasteurization should inactivate the flu virus, and officials stressed that the US milk supply was safe. Currently, based on the information available, the USDA said it does not anticipate the outbreak will impact the availability or the price of milk or other dairy products for consumers. Infected cows were thought to be exposed to sick birds, but USDA confirmed in April that cow-to-cow transmission is a factor in the spread of bird flu in dairy herds.
- Retail sales of lactose-free milk rose 6.7% in 2023, according to data from consumer behavior research firm Circana, cited by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF). Moreover, volume sales of lactose-free milk surpassed those of almond-based milk alternatives, which fell by nearly 10% in 2023, per Circana. Last year’s decline in almond milk sales reflected a broader move away from plant-based milk alternatives, which fell 6.6% in 2023 to 337.7 million gallons, marking the second consecutive year of decline for plant-based milk alternatives. 2023 saw the lowest consumption levels for plant-based milk alternatives since 2019. Meanwhile, retail sales of whole milk ticked up by 0.6% in 2023, according to Circana.
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