Trends in the consumption of dairy products in Spain, 1952-2007

Abstract

This paper homogenizes and triangulates the information given by several different statistical sources in order to provide a description of the trends in the consumption of dairy products in Spain between the early 1950s and the early years of the twenty-first century. The results show two differentiated phases. The first of these, which lasted until the 1980s, was a phase of rapid growth in the consumption of both milk and its derivatives. The second was one of stagnation in aggregate consumption — stagnation that resulted from a fall in the consumption of milk and persistent growth in the consumption of derivatives. Another important feature of this second phase was that the variety of consumer goods greatly increased. In spite of some peculiarities, the direction of change was, in the Spanish case, broadly similar to that of other European countries.