Iconic butter a bestseller abroad

Iconic dairy brand Kerrygold is now the bestselling butter in Germany and the leading imported butter product in the US.

Last year, shoppers bought more than 350m packs of Kerrygold worldwide, worth over €500m to the Irish Dairy Board.

Overall the IDB generates €2bn in annual turnover for the Irish dairy co-ops, on behalf of whom it promotes overseas sales.

Kerrygold’s pole position is remarkable in Germany, where it tops the sales league with 15.3% of the overall market share — including cheaper, non-branded products — and a 50% share of all branded butter sold.

In the US, Kerrygold has seen double-digit growth every year for the past five years and anticipates further growth in the coming years. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the Kerrygold sales story is that it is 100% dearer than other branded butters in the US.

It is viewed as a prime product for which people will pay a premium price.

In Germany, it is sold at a 50% premium; a regular pack of Kerrygold costs €1.50 versus €0.99 for shops’ own-brand version.

“We’re doing well in the UK, Germany, and the US, but the big growth will come in emerging markets in Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and China,” said IDB chief executive Kevin Lane.

“The future will be all about growth. We have people based all over the world. Our accumulated cheese exports will grow from 165,000 tonnes last year to around 220,000 tonnes by 2020. Most of that growth will come in 2015 and 2016, with the abolition of milk quotas, and we have plans for all of that product.”

Similar export growth is anticipated across the board’s full ‘basket’ of products, including butter, cheese, WMP, SMP and other industry-focused products.

Working closely with research partners at Teagasc’s Dairy Innovation Centre in Fermoy, Co Cork, the IDB plans to release a new butter product in July, with a new cheese in October tailored to suit local tastes in the Middle East and North Africa. Both will hit their intended markets during spring 2014.

While Kerrygold is the flagship for Irish butter exports, other successful IDB brands include Beo in emerging markets, along with Pilgrim’s Choice and MU, which target different strands of the UK market.