Export volume could fall for a number of products in 2024, but that is because of a tighter balance in the U.S., while we could see a little stronger exports for other products on improving global demand and better availability in the U.S.

Consumers are looking for functional, clean-label products with ingredients that bolster immunity and digestive health, improve brain and heart health and prevent diabetes with reduced sugar or zero-added-sugar options. They’re also willing to pay more for added benefits.

Sponsored by IFPC.

Most areas of the non-dairy market are scoring plenty of goals, with the exception of the juice market, which is awaiting its next chance to help the team.

Sponsored by Cargill.

When it comes to butter, sales are serving up plenty of aces, with very few faults. For the first time, refrigerated dollar butter sales topped $4 billion for the 52 weeks ending Aug. 13 in multi-outlets and convenience stores, according to Chicago-based research firm Circana.

In terms of ice cream and frozen novelty sales, matching a “Super Bowl champion”-level performance like those of the Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes in 2020 and 2023, which occurred for ice cream during the COVID-19 pandemic, when consumers sought a home indulgence, is difficult to replicate.

Sponsored by Berry Global.

Cultured dairy, while not the first female gymnast to win six all-around world titles, is garnering considerable success due to the health and wellness attributes of such key category products as spoonable and drinkable yogurt and cottage cheese.

The cheese category continues to score goals. Natural cheese — and the diverse types of shredded, chunks, slices, string/stick, crumbled, cubes, ricotta, and all other forms — generated $17.4 billion in dollar sales, a year-over-year (YoY) increase of 7%.

Sponsored by Nercon.

The milk category has soured in terms of consumption, but processors are not yet down for the count. Such factors as higher prices and a dynamic shopper base are resulting in declining volume sales.

Sponsored by Krones.

DAIRY FOODS EXTRA 

With PROOF Hard Ice Cream currently expanding at a blazing pace, corporate executives acknowledge they will soon outgrow its 4,000-square-foot South Carolina plant.

EXPORTER OF THE YEAR  

South Carolina is perhaps where the next great dairy segment has been born: alcohol-infused ice cream. At the forefront of the alcohol-infused ice cream movement is PROOF Hard Ice Cream, led by Jennifer Randall, co-founder and CEO, and Dirk Brown, co-founder and chairman, who founded the start-up in 2014.

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