Whole milk sales outpaced skim/low-fat milk for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 1, 2013. The whole milk category overall was up 1.09% in dollar sales to $4.5 billion but unit sales were down 0.8% according to data from Information Resources Inc., Chicago.

Seeing a dramatic increase in both dollar and unit sales of refrigerated whole milk was Hiland Dairy, Springfield, Mo. Dollar sales were up 46% to $91 million while unit sales increased 41% for this unit of Prairie Farms Dairy. Oak Farms Dairy (a Dean Foods brand) saw unit and dollar sales increase by almost 16%, bringing sales up to $70.3 million.

Also seeing double-digit increases was Horizon Organic Dairy (WhiteWave Foods), Broomfield, Colo. Dollar sales were up 11.5% to $145 million with unit sales up 12.5%. While unit sales decreased by 0.4% for private label brands — the segment leader — dollar sales were up 1.2% to $2.4 billion. Dallas-based Borden Dairy, in the No. 3 spot, had dollar sales increase almost 4% to $128 million with unit sales up 2.5%.

Not faring as positively in the whole milk segment was Dean Foods’ Country Fresh brand. Dollar sales dropped 6.9% and unit sales had a double-digit decrease of 11.7% to 13.6 million. Dean’s (Dean Foods) saw dollar sales decrease 0.4% with unit sales decreasing 5.6%.

The skim/low-fat milk category — the largest of the milk segments with $10.5 billion in dollar sales — was down in both dollar and unit sales: 2.1% and 4.1% respectively. A few of the top 10 brands did see increases. Hiland’s sales were up 50.8%  and Garelick Farms’ increased 341%.

Lactaid saw dollar sales up 3.3% and unit sales up 2.8%. These other top-five brands showed dollar sales increase: Horizon Organic was up 4.2% and also up 4.6% in unit sales; Prairie Farms, Carlinville, Ill., up 2.5% but down 0.6% in unit sales.

Private label brands — the segment leader in skim/low-fat milk as in whole milk — had dollar sales decrease 1.4% to $6.2 billion and unit sales drop 3.3% to 2.1 billion. Dean’s saw some struggles, with dollar sales decreasing 2.5% to $164 million and unit sales dropping almost 8% to 57 million.

 Other brands in the top 10 also experiencing decreases in both dollar sales and unit sales were Hood, Lynnfield, Ma., (down 2% in dollars and 4.2% in units) and Organic Valley, La Farge, Wis., (down 3.9% in dollar, down 5.2% in units).