Better days ahead for dairy farmers

Dairy farmers can look forward to better days as retail dairy demand increases and feed prices trend lower

- Dr Koos Coetzee.

Milk South Africa recently published a report on retail sales figures as supplied by Nielsen for the 12-month period from July 2024 to June 2025. The percentage change in retail sales, compared to the corresponding period in 2023/24, are shown in Table 1. Liquid milk sales grew by 3,5%. The growth in yoghurt sales of 3,5% is also a positive trend.

Producer price indices for dairy products at factory gate and unprocessed milk at farm gate are shown in Table 2. The market for dairy products is growing, and ex-factory prices have increased while farm producer prices have decreased. At retail level there was a sharp increase in other food prices while dairy product prices remained stagnant, providing further impetus for sales growth.

FEED PRICES