THE 'Masterchef effect' is not just reserved for pork belly and macaroons – the dairy industry is also reaping the benefits.
Dairy Australia's Dairy Situation and Outlook report for June shows a significant rise in the sale of dairy spreads in the past financial year.
Dairy Australia industry analyst Amy Bellhouse said part of this surge could be attributed to the success of cooking shows and an increased interest in home cooking.
"Dairy spreads, such as butter, are seeing huge growth," she said.
"It is the Masterchef effect where people are cooking with butter and seeing it as good to have."
While dairy spreads are the top performer in volume and value growth, retail sales in Australia have been positive compared to the global situation.
"Australia has been an interesting market in the past 12 months as we've had a strong domestic market helping support farmgate prices while we have a depressed market globally," Ms Bellhouse said.
She said volume sales of dairy spread had grown by as much as 5.8 per cent in the past year, and in value by 8.7pc, worth an estimated $406 million.
Other dairy products have also performed well in the local retail sector with sales of drinking milk showing a steady growth of about 1.5pc in volume, year-on-year.
Ms Bellhouse said cheese sales, in volume, were down, but their value had increased, suggesting customers were opting for value-added products such as sliced cheese.
A similar drift was seen in the yoghurt and snacks sector, with volumes down 1.4pc on the previous year but values up 4pc.
Ms Bellhouse said this was reflective of supermarket trends, with consumers relatively positive about family finances.
The domestic market takes about 60pc of national milk production.
Ms Bellhouse said this success had cushioned the local industry through what was a volatile 2014-15 global market.
Worldwide, the dairy industry had seen prices trend low, partly influenced by a lift in supply.
The four biggest dairy exports nations have all seen an increase in production.
Ms Bellhouse said the drought in New Zealand had been expected to negatively impact output but production increased by 1pc.
"NZ was a lot more resilient than expected," she said.
In April, the European Union brought an end to its quota systems but Ms Bellhouse said this had had little impact so far.
"There is a lot of skim milk powder, so there is not a lot of incentive to ramp-up production," she said.
Despite this, in the EU production rose by 1.2pc.
Production also rose in the United States although its strong domestic market meant exports were down slightly.
Ms Bellhouse said all three markets had seen farmgate prices drop.
"Australia has held up pretty well compared to how it looks at the global level," she said.
The Rabobank Agribusiness market outlook places the Australian southern region farmgate price at the average $5.60 a kilogram milk solids.
Production in Australia lifted 2.5pc year-on-year.
With the global market staying low, Ms Bellhouse said many of Australia's regular customers – and some who were not, such as Africa – were taking advantage and restocking.
"In recent years, dairy has become very cheap for a lot of buyers," she said.
"South East Asia and the Middle East are refilling their supply and stocking up while it is cheap and affordable.
"We've seen double-digit growth in volume terms but in value terms the growth has not been as fast because it is partly price-driven."
