Consumer focus was very much about reducing household expenditure, according to the NDC Annual Review 2010 & 2011 Plan that has just been launched. Despite these recessionary challenges, the dairy sector performed relatively well in 2010, with volumes in retail multiples growing and prices stabilising, particularly in the last quarter of the year.
Savings are top of the consumer agenda. According to the NDC Review, more than two in every three people say they will continue to switch to cheaper grocery brands and increase their in-home dining and entertainment in order to try to live within their much restricted budgets.
However, the report highlights that these trends, supporting home cooking and meal preparation, are ultimately of benefit to the dairy sector.
The NDC Review describes 2010 (the mid point in its five-year ‘Dairy: Food For Life Strategy’) as a year of ‘fruition’ for the National Dairy Council.
“At a time of unprecedented economic challenge, the NDC is proud to have been able extend the scope of its marketing and promotional remit and deliver measurably positive outcomes,” said outgoing NDC chief executive Helen Brophy.
The NDC is continuing to build international links and alliances and has, through its participation in the European Dairy Marketing Forum, submitted an application for EU Funding to be part of a pan-European campaign to promote the nutrient richness of milk and dairy products.
The introduction of the ‘Fresh Milk Club’ branding to primary schools supported the recruitment of 4,840 new pupils and 90 new schools to the School Milk & Dairy Programme in the 2009-2010 school year, with a further 39 schools joining in the 2010-2011 school year.
The School Milk & Dairy Programme expanded to secondary schools for the first time in 2010, supported by marketing initiatives such as the NDC & FAI Futsal competition and the new NDC Milk It! Advertising Awards. To date, 34 secondary schools have joined the new School Milk & Dairy programme.
Commenting on the launch of the NDC Annual Review 2010 & 2011 Plan, NDC chairman Dominic Cronin accepts that conditions remain challenging for farm families and milk processors, but says that there’s a growing sense that the dairy industry is at last beginning to benefit from long-term sustainable opportunities in the world marketplace.
“All of us share the hope that the recovery of confidence witnessed in 2010 will point the way to a sustainable future for the Irish dairy industry, both nationally and internationally,” said Cronin.
Source: National Dairy Council Ireland
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