Spaniards drink little milk. They also don’t eat a lot of yogurt (but they do eat other dairy products like smoothies or ice cream). This decline in consumption, which has been occurring for several years, was one of the triggers for a multinational company such as Danone to adopt radical restructuring measures. Among these is the closure of the Parets del Vallès (Barcelona) plant, announced this Friday. Oikos and Vitalinea yoghurts, In addition to the range of herbal products Alpro.
According to data managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food last year Monthly statistics on consumption of milk and its derivatives The market broke a record in Spain Sharp contraction in dairy product purchases, In August 2023 (the last month for which data is available), it was already 20% compared to the same month in the previous year. The decline in the dairy derivatives segment is explained by the decline in demand for some major categories as follows. milk shakes (10.4%) or yogurt (2.4%), as well as smoked cheese (7.5%), sheep cheese (11.5%) or pudding (3.9%).
And some yoghurts fruit-like varieties (the increasingly minority) experienced a real decline, with a 44% drop in the volume of kilos consumed in one year. Sales yoghurt with additives fell 17.5% and lean, 13.9%. Things went a little better for him, yes. flavored yoghurt, increased its figures by 10%.
However, relegation is not new. The dairy industry is already piling up various consumption reduction exercisesIt has been encouraged by, among other reasons. a wide variety of milk alternatives And plant based desserts recently released product. Also depending on prices: between summer 2022 and 2023, skim milk increased by 15.1% and yogurt increased by 8.6%.
So, although Danone Spain has guaranteed that it will eliminate the Parets factory through what it calls a “local process”, workers do not lose sight of the fact that the company has been in it for two years. Full review of your businesswithin the scope of the strategic plan called Renew Danone. In the balance sheet for the third quarter of 2023 presented by the general manager of the company, Antoine de Saint-AfriqueLast October, the results of the plan began to bear fruit. Sales in Europe by company numbersincreased by 5.1% Compared to the third quarter of 2022, there was a 9.2% increase in price and a 4.1% decrease in product volume.