The Industry > Products
Dairy products combine great taste with nutritional value. As one of Canada's four basic food groups, they play an important part in nutrition by providing essential nutrients for growth and body maintenance throughout our life span.
In the 2005-2005 dairy year, approximately 80 million hectolitres of milk were produced in Canada for sale on two markets: the fluid market (table milk and fresh cream), and the industrial market (milk used for manufactured dairy products). The fluid milk market accounted for 31.98 million hectolitres and the industrial market accounted for 48.67 million hectolitres.
There are four major types of fluid milk: homogenized (3.25% butterfat), partly skimmed (2%), 1%, and skim milk (which has less than 0.5% butterfat). A limited market also exists for other fluid milk products such as flavoured and lactose-free milk. Creams are marketed with butterfat contents ranging from 10% for coffee cream to 35% for whipping cream.
The production of butter dipped by 1.01 % from 84,373 tonnes in 2004 to 83,519 tonnes in 2005. Quebec produced 42 % of Canadian butter followed by Ontario (28%) and the Western provinces (28%).
In 2005, Canadian cheddar cheese production reached 131,872 tonnes. This represents a 4% increase from the previous year. Quebec remains the leading producer of cheddar cheese, with 47 % of Canada's total production.
In 2005, Canada's production of specialty cheeses was 219,952 barely higher than the previous year's production of 219,051 tonnes. Mozzarella leads the way accounting for 55% of total specialty cheese production. Quebec is the main producer of cheese in Canada, accounting for 57 % of total domestic production of specialty cheese.
Canadian yogurt production is steadily growing. In 2005, it totalled 233,172 tonnes, a 8.31% increase from 2004. Quebec accounts fro 61% of domestic production, followed by Ontario with 27 %. The production of hard and soft frozen yogurt mix totalled 7,846 thousand litres in 2005.
Canadian production of ice cream, ice cream mixes and ice cream products grew by almost 9% from 460,973 thousand litres in 2004 to 502,035 thousand litres in 2005. Ontario remains the leading producer of ice cream and ice cream products, with 65 % of Canada's total production.
In Canada, milk producers finance the cost of the generic promotion of dairy products. This type of promotion complements brand name promotion conducted by manufacturers and highlights the qualities of particular dairy products. Canada is a world leader in this type of promotion. Fluid milk, butter and cheese have been the main products targeted by these advertising and promotion campaigns.
While each province is responsible for the promotion of fluid milk within its respective boundaries, marketing activities relating to dairy products are carried out across the country and are handled by the national dairy producer-funded organization, Dairy Farmers of Canada.
Producers take into account how much butterfat is used in various dairy products and the size of each market in order to determine and recommend priorities for promotional activities. Given the importance of butter and cheese in terms of their butterfat content, these two products continue to be the focus of most industrial milk promotion programs across Canada.
Top of page Printer FriendlyLast Updated: 2006-10-19
