Multinationals reinforce competition in special milk

Competition in the market of special milk, zero lactose products or with higher protein content, has grown recently. Vivian Leite, Director of marketing for Tetra Pak, said the category zero lactose has tripled in size in sales volume between 2015 and 2017. And went from a competitor to 20. The milk market with more protein spent a (green field, the Coca-Cola) for three contestants (Itambé and Nestlé, with Molico), between 2016 and 2017. "And the trend is expanding," said Vivian. Nestlé, which has competed in special milk under the Nest, chocolate milk, Molico and Nestlé, launched this year a zero-lactose milk cream. And develops organic milk, according to Fabiana Fairbanks, Director of Nestle's beverages unit. In 2017, the company expanded the product offering zero lactose and with more protein. "These categories have a higher growth than the regular lines," said Fabiana. Pedro Massa, new business Director of Coca-Cola Brazil, said, this year, will expand to the entire Brazil and Latin America distribution of products launched in 2017. The lines created by the Green field, controlled by Coca-Cola, including Natural Whey shake (whey protein), a long-life milk LacFree brand and a line of chocolate with the brand Minilac. According to Euromonitor International, zero lactose milk sales grew by 14.5% in volume in 2017, to 101.2 million liters. For the period from 2017 to 2022, the consultancy predicts average annual growth of 5.5%. Enriched milk sales grew 1.9% in volume in 2017, to 50.6 million. Until 2022, is forecast to grow, on average, 2.4% per year.