Dairy is still a $6-billion industry in Canada – but according to Statistics Canada, one of its main products is losing popularity year after year.
Recently released data shows that commercial milk sales have fallen steadily since 2009, even though the country’s population has grown during that time. As a result, Canadians are now drinking less milk in total than at any point since the early 1980s.
The decline isn’t only affecting homogenized and 2% milk, which have been seeing consumption decreases for several decades, but also the 1% and skim varieties that had been gaining in popularity prior to 2009.
Statistics Canada says the change is at least in part due to “an aging and more ethnically diverse population, who are less likely to drink milk.
Another factor could be the increased popularity of soy milk and almond milk, which have been gaining ground at the expense of traditional dairy milk. While Statistics Canada does not specifically track almond milk consumption, its sales more than tripled in the United States between 2011 and 2015.
The study also looked at other dairy products – finding that ice cream production has been halved over the past decade, while there is now more than five times as much yogurt available for consumers as there was in 1992.
