Consumer Demand for Dairy Products. A Summary Analysis. Agriculture Information Bulletin Number 537.

This study analyzes the 1980s upturn in per capita consumption of dairy products in the United States. The study found that per capita consumption of total dairy products in the United States first trended downward then stagnated for the two decades prior to the early 1980s. Per capita consumption of items such as whole milk declined, whereas items such as lowfat milk and cheese tended to move upward. In the 1980s, per capita consumption of items such as lowfat milk and cheese increased at rates that more than offset decreases in other products, leading to an increase in the overall average consumption of dairy products. Despite a slowdown in the U.S. population growth rate, per capita consumption increased enough during the 1980s to generate the sharpest prolonged increase in total consumption of all dairy products at the national level in decades. Rising consumer incomes and declining prices for dairy products relative to other foods caused most of the 2 percent average annual increase in per capita consumption and the 3 percent increase in total consumption posted from 1983 through 1986. Advertising, concern about health and nutrition, changes in demographics, and government donations also affected consumption. However, these influences were small for most dairy products compared with the effects of changes in relative prices and consumer incomes. (Author/KC)