Malaysia's Dairy Consumption to Grow 3-5 Per Cent in 3 Years: Tetra Pak

PETALING JAYA (Selangor, Malaysia), June 12 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's dairy consumption will see an annual growth rate of three to five per cent in the next three years, said Tetra Pak (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd Marketing and Product Management Director, John Jose. "Malaysia has been experiencing an uptrend in dairy consumption with a compounded annual growth rate of three per cent. "Dairy has been an important part of the Malaysian diet, making up 25 per cent of the total of all liquid food consumed," he told reporters at the fifth Tetra Pak Dairy Index highlight here Tuesday. "As revealed in last year’s dairy index, this growth is due to rapid urbanisation, lifestyle and consumers looking for convenient, ready-to-drink beverages. “In Malaysia, we have a mature dairy consumption market where urbanisation and the rise of the middle class is driving the growth of dairy consumption. "Despite the healthy consumption of dairy products among Malaysians, there is still a lot of potential as more Malaysians move towards the middle class income bracket," said Jose. Research by Tetra Pak has identified the 2.7 billion low-income consumers in developing countries as the dairy industry’s next big growth opportunity due to an expected rise in prosperity, purchasing power and desire for packaged liquid dairy products (LDP). Consumption by low-income consumers in developing markets is forecast to increase from about 70 billion litres in 2011 to almost 80 billion litres in 2014, according to the Dairy Index, which tracks worldwide facts, figures and trends in the global dairy industry. Many of these consumers are expected to switch in coming years from drinking loose milk to packaged milk, it said. The Tetra Pak research focused on six countries -- India, China, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Kenya -- which account for more than 76 per cent of LDP consumption in developing countries. Tetra Pak is a leading food processing and packaging solutions company that works closely with customers and suppliers in more than 170 countries around the world. --BERNAMA