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| | | From all of us on the DairyReporter team, we hope you have a great holiday season, and best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year!
This was another challenging year for the global dairy market, although we are finally seeing signs of stabilization. Some trends, however, have proved more stubborn than others - manufacturers have continued to take steps to diversify their portfolio offerings in the face of China's shrinking infant formula market. Nestlé has moved to suspend one of its formula manufacturing plants, while some dairy ingredient manufacturers have started to offer its infant nutrition ingredients as part of portfolios targeting adult or young children nutrition.
Besides portfolio diversification, environmental sustainability has continued to be key factor for dairy producers, and it's encouraging to see some of the industry's most influential players agreeing to transparently disclose their methane emissions data at COP28. Climate experts are in agreement that limiting the impact of methane would be key to slowing down global warming, and the dairy industry has its own part to play, as around 8% of global methane emissions come from dairy cattle. Over the course of the year, we've also brought you features about some of the innovators behind solutions that could be utilized to limit the harmful environmental impact of enteric fermentation, such as Windfall Bio's methane-eating microbes, N2 Applied's technology , Ruminant BioTech's methane-busting bolus, and more.
In the US, the dairy industry has been at loggerheads with dairy alternatives makers over how imitation dairy products should be labelled. The industry is also lobbying to see the return of whole fat milk to US schools that participate in federal programs such as the National School Milk Program, and we are in the middle of the FMMO hearing, which is now set to resume in the new year, when we also await a new Farm Bill to be finally ratified. On consumption trends, US dairy has enjoyed a record-breaking year, according to USDA data, with Americans purchasing an average of 42lb of cheese per person in 2023, with yogurt also seeing an uptick in consumption.
Globally, innovation in the realms of dairy alternatives has also continued, as product makers aim to close the nutritional and functional gap on traditional dairy. Emerging technologies, such as precision fermentation and cell-based dairy, have attracted the attention of market leaders such as Danone and the Bel Group. The question remains, however, whether – and when – we would see animal-free dairy available in more than a handful of markets globally.
What would 2024 bring...?
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Happy holidays from DairyReporter.
Teodora
Editor |
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