This was according to the quarterly South African Milk Processors’ Organisation (Sampro) report, ‘Key Market Signals for the Dairy Industry’, published on Tuesday, 24 June.
Retail sales of fresh milk and cream cheese, said Alwyn Kraamwinkel, Sampro CEO. The decrease in the demand for cream cheese was marginal but the decrease of the demand for fresh milk was substantial.
However, the decrease in the demand for fresh milk was overshadowed by the increase in the demand for long life milk, Kraamwinkel said. The combined retail sales of the two types of processed milk was 1,4% higher in the year to March 2014, than in the previous year.
The production of raw milk in SA increased by 4,47% from 2011 to 2012 and by 2,1% from 2012 to 2013, the report showed. The production in the first four months of 2014 was 0,01% lower than in the same months of 2013.
