Don't get distracted by the headlines in 2018. The renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement will demand a lot of attention, but assuming neither of them is wiped off the board completely, growing milk supplies in the other major exporting countries will create the headwind for U.S. exports.
Despite all the changes that racked the world — and our corner of it — these past 12 months, as dairy developers survey the trends and technologies that will shape their R&D efforts in 2018, one theme looms above all others: clean labeling.
Body-benefiting ingredients, sugar reductions and natural and organic formulations earn the nondairy beverage category the title of MOST HEALTHFUL.
November 13, 2017
The past year has brought good news to some nondairy beverage segments. For example, the cappuccino/iced coffee subcategory saw a 12.1% rise in dollar sales, reaching more than $2 billion, according to data from Chicago-based market research firm Information Resources Inc. (IRI) for the 52 weeks ending Aug. 13, 2017. Unit sales increased by 11.8% to 686.6 million.
A growing number of Americans seem to be convinced that some things are just better with butter. According to data from the USDA, per-capita consumption of butter reached 5.7 pounds in 2016 — up a 1.4 pounds since 1996 and a full pound since 2006.