Side-Effect to COVID-19: Consumers Buying More Dairy Products

DENVER, CO – COVID-19 is dramatically affecting consumer habits and dairy supply chains as food service demand plummets and grocery sales surge. Consumers struggling with job losses and economic uncertainty quickly returned to buying basic dairy products like fluid milk, commodity cheese and butter.

A new report from CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange indicates that consumer behavior will be different for the next 12 to 18 months than it was pre-pandemic, and as that behavior takes root, dairy supply chains will need to adjust from farm to fork.

As consumers heeded the stay-at-home advisories, they increased purchases of products that in recent years had fallen out of favor. Processed cheese sales increased by nearly 20 percent during the eight weeks ending May 31. White milk sales gained more than 10 percent and cereal is also doing well with sales up almost 15 percent.

In late April, a Business Insider poll found just 9 percent of Americans believed they would resume their routine exactly as it was before the lockdowns, with only 16 percent saying they would resume “almost all” of their activities.
(SOURCE: CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange Division)