Venezuela Milk and Dairy Products Market Outlook to 2015

The Report titled "Venezuela Milk and Dairy Products Market Outlook to 2015" provides a comprehensive analysis of the milk and dairy products industry in Venezuela.The report covers the total cow milk production, fluid milk consumption, segmentation on the basis of dairy products such as butter, cheese, skim milk powder, milk drinks and fermented products, cream, condensed milk and whey powder and volume of net trade for dairy products. It offers prevalent trends and developments in the industry, future opportunities and competitive landscape of the prominent players operating in the country. The report also includes information on the major macroeconomic indicators regressed for estimating the market for milk and dairy products in Venezuela.

Venezuela milk market has recently witnessed major strides in the growth of the market due to government initiative to integrate laws and stimulate the milk production. The government expenditure increased the domestic milk production by over 50% in 2010 to 1,580 thousand tonnes. Government has laid out extensive plans to improve the dairy market situation by providing lands and loans to rural farmers, creating social production units, milk plants and farms and production networks.

Venezuela is majorly an import oriented country which imports approximately 2/3rd of its food needs including wheat, corn, dairy products, fruits etc. During recent times, the country has witnessed a surge in demand for fluid milk outstripping the milk supply. In response of rise in milk prices due to increased demand, the Venezuelan government has also increased the state-controlled price caps for milk and dairy products by 30%. The fluid milk prices have inclined by 30% to USD 0.97 per 900 ml container. Additionally, cost of processing white cheese and powdered milk has also increased. The government anticipates that the incline in authorized prices will encourage and support the producers and will offset the threat of future food shortages.

The sector was badly hit by the economic crisis and the price and exchange controls. Dismal economic situation have constrained investment in domestic dairy production resulting in great dependence on imports of milk and dairy products such as cheese. This reliance on imports and declining value of Venezuelan currency resulted in high prices and reduction in the consumers' purchases. The condition though stabilized in 2010 with government intervention and support, it is expected that Venezuelan milk market requires a long overhaul to generate sufficient milk supply to meet the domestic demand. This problem has even been multiplied due to several profitable opportunities available to the domestic milk producers to sell the production abroad.

The milk production per cow per litres increased marginally at a CAGR of 1.1% from 2007-2009. The average yield per cow increased from 1,792 per kg in 2007 to 1,813 per kg in 2008 and further to 1,830 per kg in 2009. The production per cow per kg is not expected to show any drastic changes in the forecasted period. The production per cow is anticipated to increase to 1,936 per kg per cow in 2015.

Ice-cream and Yogurts are the leading and fastest growing segment of the dairy products industry in Venezuela. The segment has seen major growth in the recent times with the investment from some of the major players in the industry. For example, Venezuela's food player Alimentos Polar along with Spanish dairy group Leche Pascual has recently invested USD 105 million in the yogurt plant in Venezuela. It is expected that this market will soon overtake other dairy products segments and will contribute a significant proportion to the total dairy production.

Butter constitutes a very small portion of total dairy products processing market in Venezuela. The segment lacks technological expertise. The country's butter imports meets approximately 75% of the demand for butter. The butter production has declined in 2008 due to the economic crisis and price controls measures. It is expected that butter production will stagnate at the level of 2009 in the future. The country requires a major catalyst to boost the production of butter in the future. The increasing health consciousness, lack of technological expertise to produce low fat butter and growing popularity and demand for yogurt and cream have led several dairy processors to shift their focus from this segment. This poses a major threat for the future growth of the butter industry in the country.

Consumers spend a large portion of the annual expenditure (nearly 34.5%) on cheese relative to other dairy products in the market. This is largely due to the utility derived from cheese in preparing several dishes and food items such as pizza, pasta, burger and others. . The country also imports varieties of cheese to meet the demand for various other types of cheese which are either unavailable or available at high prices in the country.

The cheese consumption in the country registered a CAGR of 4.7% during the period from 2007-2009. The consumption increased by 5.6% from 72 thousand tonnes in 2007 to 76 thousand tonnes in 2008. The consumption increased in 2009 by 3.9%. In the future, the consumption is expected to increase at a CAGR of 4.4% rising from 79 thousand tonnes in 2009 to 102 thousand tonnes in 2015.

Scope of Research

The report will entail thorough analysis and valuable insights on the milk and dairy products industry in Venezuela. The scope of the report includes:

� The total Venezuelan market of cow milk production and fluid milk consumption by volume, 2007 to 2015.

� The Venezuelan milk cow numbers and milk production per cow, by volume, 2007 to 2015.

� The Venezuelan dairy production by volume for butter, cheese, skim milk powder, milk drinks and fermented products, cream, condensed milk and whey powder, 2007 to 2015.

� The Venezuelan dairy consumption by volume for butter, cheese, skim milk powder, whole milk powder, 2007 to 2015.

� Current statistics and Projections of the various Macro Economic Indicators, 2009 to 2015 for Venezuela.

� Competitive Landscape of the major companies (Parmalat and Alpina), key trends and developments and future outlook of the milk and dairy products industry in Venezuela.