Campaign to boost consumer demand for milk to get underway

The impact of the global pandemic has had an immediate impact on the dairy sector with the closure of the food service and hospitality sectors leaving some processors without a viable outlet for their milk and milk products.

The new consumer campaign will help balance the oversupply of milk from the closure of the food service sector. AHDB estimate sales by liquid milk processors servicing foodservice or wholesale markets have dropped by 50-60%.

The campaign, will be led by AHDB with additional funding from Dairy UK, by governments across the UK, retail and wider industry, aims to increase consumer demand for milk by 3% over a 12 week period. This equates to 450,000 litres of liquid milk per day.

The initiative, which goes live next week, will be via targeted social media and a TV campaign. It will aim to drive volume sales of liquid milk in the short term, and sustain this demand over the medium term over the duration of a phased campaign.

It taps into the need for personal moments of human connection to improve well-being in the current crisis and the role fresh milk and dairy plays in that, for example a virtual cup of tea or coffee with family, friends or a neighbour.

The new campaign follows recent moves to support the dairy sector with the temporary relaxation of competition laws to enable greater collaboration so the sector, including dairy farmers and processors, can work closer to solve the issues it is facing.

Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths, said: “The dairy sector has felt an immediate impact from the closure of the food services sector and the accompanying drop in demand for milk.

“It is so important we support our dairy farmers during this difficult time.  I am pleased to work with governments across the UK and with the industry on this new marketing campaign to boost consumer demand for our great Welsh produce.

“During these challenging times it is vital we work closely with governments across the UK and use the powers available to us to protect the supply chain and mitigate against the severe disruption this crisis is causing to our producers and processors.”

“In addition to the temporary suspension of competition laws, this new campaign will help support the sector address and respond to the ongoing issues this global pandemic is bringing.”