Cheese Sales & Trends
Continuing a trend begun decades ago, U.S. production of natural cheese increased by 3.6% in 2010 to 10.4 billion pounds. The greatest percentage increase was seen in Italian-type cheeses, up 5.8%, with American-type cheese production 1.7% higher and production of other cheeses up 2.8%. For the fourth time in the past five years, there was more Italian-type cheese produced in the U.S. than American-type cheese in 2010.
While cheddar cheese in 2010 accounted for over 75% of all American-type cheese production, the 3.233 billion pounds produced was only 0.8% more than 2009. Other American-type cheese production increased
by 4.5% in 2010 and was over 1 billion pounds for the first time. Among Italian-type cheeses, mozzarella
represents 78.8% of the total with a production increase of 6.8% in 2010.
Combined, American-type and Italian-type cheeses account for over 83% of total natural cheese production.
A wide variety of other types of cheese account for the remaining production. Production of Swiss-type
cheeses increased by 4.4% in 2010 to 336.5 million pounds. Hispanic-type cheese production experienced
an increase of 4.1% to 215.3 million pounds in 2010. Cream and Neufchatel cheese production declined by
2.9% to 744.9 million pounds, which was 27.9 million pounds below the record production of 772.8 million
pounds set in 2007.
Production of processed cheese products fell to the lowest level in more than two decades. Processed
cheese production declined by 4.1% in 2010, falling below 1.2 billion pounds for the first time since 1990.
The total for the category, which also includes processed cheese foods and spreads as well as cold pack
cheese and cheese foods, declined by 3.3% to 2.1 billion pounds produced.
The two states with the greatest cheese production, Wisconsin and California, combined accounted for
46.1% of total U.S. natural cheese production in 2010. Rounding out the top five states for natural cheese
production were Idaho, New York and New Mexico.
Cheese Sales & Consumption Summary
U.S. per capita consumption of natural cheese reached a new record high in 2010, increasing by 0.44
pounds to 33.29 pounds. This eclipsed the previous record of 33.16 set in 2007.
The largest consumption increase in 2010 was for Italian-type cheeses which were up 0.64 pounds per
person to 14.61 pounds, although this was still below the record of 14.34 set in 2007. American-type
cheese consumption also increased, rising by 0.13 pounds to 13.83 pounds per person – this set a new
record high for per capita consumption of American-type cheeses. Consumption of other than Italian or
American cheeses fell for the third consecutive year, declining 0.37 pounds to 5.14 pounds per person.
The most consumed types of cheese in the U.S. are mozzarella and cheddar. Mozzarella cheese per
capita consumption reached a new record high of 11.29 pounds in 2010; the previous record was 11.04
pounds per person set in 2007. Consumption of cheddar cheese also set a new record with 10.44
pounds per capita, just slightly above the prior record set last year.
Meanwhile, consumption of processed cheeses has been on a downward trend since peaking in 1996 at
8.76 pounds per person. The total for all processed cheeses in 2010 was only 6.71 pounds per person,
a consumption decline of 0.31 pounds from last year and the first time per capita consumption of
processed cheese fell below 7 pounds in over 20 years.
Volume sales of natural cheese in retail supermarkets declined in 2010 by 0.5% to just over 2 billion
pounds. Cheese types that experienced the largest percentage increase in volume sales in retail
supermarkets in 2010 included Gruyere, Mascarpone, Havarti, Gournay, goat cheese, Gouda and
Provolone, all of which saw such sales increase by more than 10%. The cheese types with the greatest
volume sales in retail supermarkets include Cheddar, American, Mozzarella and Colby Jack.
