The acceleration of the wellness trend in 2021 increased interest in milk and dairy products. Products with improved content stood out during the year, whereby total cow's milk by tonnage grew by 10%.
Another significant development in 2021, as the world began adapting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic, was the prioritization of sustainability. Ultimately, sustainability has changed trends, customer preferences, and habits in the milk and dairy products industry, as in many other areas.
Amid the COVID-19 restrictions that began in 2020, village cooperatives and organizations worldwide continued their milk collection operations without interruption. Dairy processing plants also continued to increase their production. With the revival of the economic activities of importing and exporting countries, the rise in global dairy product trade in 2020 continued in 2021.
The Industry in Turkey
Amid the COVID-19 restrictions that began in 2020, village cooperatives and organizations worldwide continued their milk collection operations without interruption. While dairy processing plants increased their production, the rise in global dairy product trade witnessed in 2020 continued with the revival of the economic activities of importing and exporting countries.
The total volume of cow’s milk collected in Turkey rose by 2.1% in 2021 compared to the previous year to 10 million 51 thousand 820 tons. Compared to the same period of the previous year, skimmed milk powder production increased by 23.9%, ayran production increased by 22%, whole milk powder production climbed 15.9%, and butter production rose by 7.9% in January-December 2021 (Turk-Stat, December 2021).
As of 2021, the total milk tonnage in the packaged milk market was 2.5 million tons on 10.5% growth, while turnover reached TRY 12.8 billion on 40% growth (IPSOS HTP, 2021). When the growth categories are considered, it emerges that value-added categories such as children's milk and lactose-free milk come to the fore (Nielsen, Market Excluding Discount Market, 2021). The cheese market reached a total market tonnage of 0.6 million tons on growth of 11.6% in 2021. Turnover reached TRY 21.4 billion on growth of 3.6% (IPSOS HTP, 2021). The Labneh and Cream sub-categories in the Cheese category were also observed to grow (Nielsen, Market Excluding Discount Market, 2021).
As a result of the cooperative efforts with the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Turkish dairy product exporters entered the market rapidly with the start of milk and dairy product exports to China as of May 2020. With this agreement, whey powder, cheese, milk powder, cream, and butter exports to China continued in 2021.