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To an outsider looking in, you’d be forgiven for thinking the industry just lurches from crisis to crisis,” says Arla UK MD and newly appointed chair of Dairy UK Ash Amirahmadi.
He’s not wrong. The past five years have seen the sector buffeted by challenges from farmer unrest over low prices, falling consumption and the rise of plant-based to concerns over the sector’s impact on climate change, not to mention Brexit uncertainty.
By Kevin White2020-12-18T00:01:00+00:00
Source: Unsplash
Brits might be divided over Brexit and coronavirus rules, but they are united in their love of cheese. Driven by an increase in scratch cooking and a resurgence in homemade sarnies, consumers spent a quarter of a billion pounds more on cheddar and the like this year. That saw the category’s value sales climb by 10.4% to a record-breaking £2.7bn.
Cheese was near-ubiquitous in shoppers’ baskets – and in their kitchens. A poll in July of 1,053 people by the Speciality Cheesemakers Association found that 25% used cheese when cooking once a week, with 28% using it twice a week, 15% three times a week, and 11% four to six times a week.