The 2026 FCC Food and Beverage Report states sales among food and beverage manufacturers are predicted to rise by 0.8 per cent while volumes fall by 0.7 per cent, the fourth straight year of decline. It notes sales growth will likely be driven by higher prices, not higher consumption.

WHY IT MATTERS: With trade tensions still disrupting global supply, prices could fluctuate this year, affecting consumers’ choices.

FCC chief economist Craig Johnston said this disparity speaks to the issue of consumer purchasing power.

“Higher food prices over the past several years are really weighing on households’ budgets,” he said in an interview. “They’re making more cost-conscious decisions.”

“This is actually a headwind for consumption and a headwind for volumes.”

He said any upstream changes will no doubt filter down to Canadian producers. Some challenges are shared across sectors.

“When we think about common elements, you can think about the tariffs, the elevated input costs, generally,” he said.

Margins are tight across the sector, including for farmers.

“We’re not seeing massive improvements on margins within the food and beverage manufacturing sector to pre-COVID levels, and we’re not necessarily seeing that filter through to a broad-based increase in margins for primary ag.”

“The industry in general is still going through this adjustment period” he said, “and we do expect that to continue to 2026.”

Trade tensions still a factor

Canada will continue to grapple with trade uncertainty this year, including the recent instability caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

Forecasts for costs of goods in the Food and Beverage Report were made before the crisis, “meaning that if the commodity price surge persists beyond just a few months, there would be upside risks to those estimates.”

FCC had expected pressures on some inputs, such as cattle and hogs, to ease from 2025 highs, but surging energy prices due to the conflict make that less likely.

Costs of production up

Production costs for food and beverage manufacturers increased by two per cent in 2025, driven mostly by raw material costs.

“The increase in raw material costs was driven by disruptions that constrained availability and raised prices,” the report states.

“Some examples from 2025 include avian influenza impacts on poultry … tariffs that increased the cost of imported aluminum packaging and historically low cattle herd sizes across North America.”

Costs across sectors

The report also breaks down costs associated with sub-sectors of food and beverage processing.

In grain and oilseed milling, sales were uneven in 2025 but improved by the fourth quarter. 2026 shows signs of a rebound in sales and volumes.

Large carryover of canola stocks is expected to keep prices under pressure in 2026. Canola prices are expected to fall by 3.1 per cent in 2026.

The report suggested demand for Canadian maple syrup and honey has continued to increase in the global market.

In the dairy sector, 2026 will likely see a 3.6 per cent increase of product manufacturing sales over 2025. Processors are also expected to pass along costs from the producer price increase for unprocessed milk to consumers.

In the meat manufacturing sector, FCC forecasts sales up 1.6 per cent and volumes down by 5.6 per cent.

Tight supplies of live animals, due largely to disease outbreaks, drove prices up in 2025. According to the report, “2026 will likely see another year where price, not volume, drives sales upward.”

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Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Sept. 27 announced Shikha Jain will be the CDC’s commissioner for a four-year term effective Sept. 15.

Jain, who lives at Guelph, is the CEO for GET Corp., a green tech firm focused on conversion on dairy farms’ organic wastes to renewable natural gas.

A former chief administrative officer for Dairy Farmers of Ontario and CEO for Career Colleges Ontario, Jain “brings extensive experience in strategic and operational planning and is recognized as a trusted and collaborative leader,” the federal government said in a release.

“There is no doubt that Shikha Jain’s extensive experience in strategic planning and sustainability in the dairy industry will be assets for the Canadian Dairy Commission,” Bibeau said in the same release.

“Her guidance will be valuable as the CDC is moving forward with the government’s agenda to advance innovation and (greenhouse gas) emissions reduction.”

The commission is tasked with co-ordinating federal and provincial dairy policies; it administers support prices for butter and skin milk powder and the national marketing quota.

Jain’s appointment fills the vacancy on the CDC’s three-member board of directors, after the appointment of Benoit Basillais as the commission’s new CEO this summer and former commissioner Jennifer Hayes as CDC chair late last year.

CDC governance was flagged in a special report from the federal auditor general’s office in March last year, calling on the commission’s board to keep in touch with the ag minister’s office on a “timely basis” to make sure its board table is fully occupied.

That report found no board meetings had to be cancelled or any decisions left unresolved, but nevertheless, having an empty chair at a three-member board table “poses a significant risk that the board would be unable to make decisions and operate effectively,” the auditor general’s office said at the time.

That poses a risk particularly for the CDC. Its requirement for members to have “significant dairy industry experience” — with one member also serving as CEO — makes it somewhat more likely that a “real, potential or perceived” conflict of interest could pop up, requiring at least one member to abstain from voting on certain decisions. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Wednesday announced Benoit Basillais, the CDC’s director of policy and economics, became the Crown corporation’s new CEO effective Monday.

Basillais replaces Serge Riendeau, the dairy producer and former Agropur Co-operative president who’s been the CDC’s chief executive since 2018.

Basillais, who studied agricultural economics in France and has a master’s degree in rural economics from Laval University, has worked for the CDC since 2003. Starting there as an economist, he was named director of policy and economics in 2016.

The new appointee “is very familiar with both the stakeholders and the issues facing the dairy industry,” Bibeau said in a release Wednesday.

“Now as CEO, I trust that he will make a significant contribution to the success of the dairy industry while increasing the transparency of the pricing mechanism.”

The CDC is tasked with co-ordinating federal and provincial dairy policies; it administers the dairy production control mechanism used to avoid production shortages or surpluses. Its CEO serves as one of three members of the commission’s board of directors, along with the chairperson and a commissioner.

Former CDC commissioner Jennifer Hayes was named as its chairperson at the end of 2021, which leaves just the commissioner’s seat vacant at the board table.

CDC governance was raised in a special report from the federal auditor general’s office in March last year, which called on the commission’s board to keep in touch with the ag minister’s office on a “timely basis” to make sure it maintains a full complement at the board table.

That report found no board meetings had to be cancelled or any decisions left unresolved, but having one empty chair at a three-member board table nevertheless “poses a significant risk that the board would be unable to make decisions and operate effectively,” the auditor general’s office said.

That poses a risk particularly for the CDC. Its requirement for members to have “significant dairy industry experience,” with one member also serving as CEO, makes it somewhat more likely that a “real, potential or perceived” conflict of interest could pop up, requiring at least one member to abstain from voting on certain decisions.

Maintaining a full slate of CDC board members, the report noted, is the responsibility of the federal Governor in Council — that is, Canada’s governor general on the advice of the federal cabinet.

An Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada spokesperson said via email Thursday the department is
in the midst of the ongoing process to fill the CDC commissioner position “following the open, transparent and merit-based processes for selecting Governor in Council appointees” — and thus can’t yet say when a commissioner appointee will be named.

The June 30 order in council to appoint Basillais as CDC CEO sets his term at four years.

Basillais “brings with him a complete understanding of the issues faced by the sector,” AAFC said in its statement Wednesday, adding his background and “extensive knowledge of the Canadian supply management system allows him to identify and present innovative approaches to each unique situation.”

Riendeau, whose term as CEO was extended in April 2021 for one additional year, “has worked to improve collaboration between segments of the dairy supply chain, and supported the modernization of supply management,” AAFC said. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Dairy alternatives can be seen everywhere from grocery stores to coffee shops. These products are no longer confined to the dusty shelves of specialty food and health stores, or located in some obscure places in major grocery stores. They are now quite visible.

Rice milk, soy milk, and other substitutes like oat, almond, cashew, coconut and even hemp milk are widespread. It’s happened fast and their emergence certainly spells trouble for the dairy industry.

For the last 50 years, supply management has allowed Canada’s dairy industry to produce the milk needed to meet demand. It means access to fresh, high-quality supplies and prices that are as constant as they can get.

But recent trade deals with Asia and Europe will allow more dairy products into the Canadian market tariff free. This created a breach in Canada’s supply management system, which is why the federal government is throwing almost $2 billion at dairy farmers, spread over eight years.

But the real menace may be on the domestic front, with consumers clearly longing for choice.

Alternatives will likely chip away at some of the Canadian dairy industry’s market share. As domestic demand for milk and some other dairy products drops, so will the number of farms and processing plants.

Saputo recently announced the closure of two plants, in New Brunswick and Trenton, Ont. Agropur, the largest dairy co-operative in the country, faces major financial headwinds. Difficult decisions loom as the market flirts with plant-based alternatives.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, retail sales of oat milk in the U.S. soared from US$4.4 million in 2017 to $29 million in 2019, surpassing almond milk as the fastest-growing dairy alternative. The same market reaction is being reported in Canada.

And Starbucks recently announced it will heavily promote dairy alternatives in its stores as part of its sustainability ambitions.

Even if milk scores well on nutrition, the alternatives are getting traction for two fundamental reasons.

The first is the environment. An increasing number of consumers see the planet in their glass or on their plate. A University of Oxford study published in 2018 suggested that dairy alternatives rate better than cow’s milk when it comes to carbon emissions, and how much land and water they use.

The study, however, didn’t consider the energy required to move products to points of sale. Almond milk, for example, can be very taxing on the environment if purchased in Canada, since we don’t produce almonds.

But the study is helping to convince consumers to consider alternatives.

The other hot-button issue is animal welfare.

Most Canadians don’t understand how dairy production works. And given that many people barely have the time to even cook, most city dwellers won’t invest the energy to visit farms and talk to farmers. So dairy farming is a mystery.

As soon as they catch a glimpse of dairy genetics and how cows are impregnated, for example, concerns are raised for uninformed consumers. In fact, 24 per cent of Canadians under 39 question the ethics of dairy farming practices. With those in their 20s, that number goes up to 30 per cent, according to a study to be released soon by Dalhousie University.

Some of these younger Canadian adults probably believe dairy farming should be outlawed.

The dairy industry is slowly being trampled by a wave of consumers who see it as one of many options, for a variety of reasons.

To make things even more complicated for the sector, some lab-grown milk and dairy products are already being sold in the United States. Only 26 per cent of Canadians would be willing to taste a product made in a laboratory, based on a recent survey. But with clear environmental benefits and no impact on animal rights, the case for lab-grown proteins is being built.

The Dairy Farmers of Canada seems oblivious to what’s happening. The group’s aggressive advertising campaign is trying to make the case that dairy farming is ethical and responsible.

But as consumer choice broadens, this campaign shows how dairy farmers have lost touch with what buyers want.

The inability of dairy farmers to engage in new media platforms to help shape the conversation is astoundingly short sighted. The industry has rarely shown willingness to listen to consumers and it’s paying for it now.

International markets could use some Canadian dairy but for that, our dairy programs will need some serious rethinking.

Dairy farming is in trouble and the current supply management regime is not helping. The sector’s infatuation with farm gate price fairness needs to give more space to innovative solutions to keep milk viable. Food innovation is about finding the unknown while providing an intuitive, valuable solution to a changing marketplace.

So what else can we do with milk?

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An analysis by University of Manitoba agricultural economist A.W. Wood said that in 1951, a Winnipeg housewife paid an average of 70 cents per pound for beef (carcass basis) of which the producer received 47 cents, or two-thirds. In 1957, she paid an average of 48 cents, of which the farmer only received 25 cents, or about one-half.

At a meeting of the National Dairy Council in Montreal, Dairy Farmers of Canada president W.B. Reddie raised similar concerns. “To ask agriculture to supply Canadians with their daily fare at world prices and buy their supplies under the protected conditions under which the other branches of the economy operate is rank discrimination,” he said.

In a speech in Brandon, Manitoba Premier Duff Roblin said his government planned increased financial aid to young farmers, additional aid for those wishing to study agriculture and expansion of the farm economics division of the Department of Agriculture. “A lot can be done to increase farmers’ take-home pay,” in this field, Roblin said.

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Fonterra’s GlobalDairyTrade Price Index dipped 2.9 per cent, with an average selling price of $2,190 per tonne, in the auction held on Tuesday (all figures US$).

A total of 20,406 tonnes was sold at the latest auction, falling 6.7 per cent from the previous one.

Dairy futures had suggested prices might rise, but analysts said continued strong global dairy supply was putting pressure on prices.

“The NZX Dairy Futures market has previously been a good barometer of market sentiment, but despite futures prices softening in the past few days this market was factoring in a lift in GDT prices,” said AgriHQ analyst Susan Kilsby in a research note.

Measures designed to support dairy farmers announced by the European Commission this week would continue to drag on prices, she added.

“The support mechanisms will distort market signals and therefore European farmers are likely to continue to produce more milk than the market requires,” Kilsby said.

After rising steadily since 2008 to scale record highs in 2013, global dairy prices have dropped sharply because of slowing economic growth in China and global oversupply of milk products.

The weak prices have put significant pressure on New Zealand farmers, with an estimated 80 per cent currently operating below break-even. The country’s central bank is today due to announce the results of a stress-test it asked major banks to undertake on their dairy portfolios.

The GDT auctions are held twice a month, with the next one scheduled for March 29. The auction platform was set up by Fonterra and is operated by trading manager CRA International.

Participants include Fonterra, Amul, Arla Foods, Arla Foods Ingredients, DairyAmerica, Euroserum and Murray Goulburn.

The auction results can affect the New Zealand dollar as the dairy sector generates more than seven per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product. The currency was quoted at 65.95 cents, having fallen overnight from as high as 66.84 cents the previous day.

— Reporting for Reuters by Charlotte Greenfield and Bangalore commodities desk.

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Headquartered in Denmark, Arla is Britain’s largest and the world’s seventh-largest dairy company. It reported net profit falling nearly eight per cent to 295 million euros (C$451 million) on revenue of 10.3 billion euros in 2015.

Rising European milk production following the scrapping of EU milk quotas combined with China’s slowdown in demand and a Russian embargo on European foods have put downward pressure on milk prices and prompted protests by farmers.

“Our annual results show that the dairy industry is in a global crisis. There is more milk supply in the market than demand can absorb,” CEO Peder Tuborgh told Reuters.

The GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) benchmark milk index showed milk prices are down 65 per cent since a peak in April 2013.

Tuborgh expects an upturn at the end of 2016 when China, the world’s biggest importer of powdered milk, will need to start increasing imports, having depleted its stocks although a game changer would be Russia lifting its import ban.

Arla Foods has mitigated the impact of low milk prices by moving more into added-value products — turning milk into more expensive goods such as its Lurpak butter and Castello cheese.

On Monday, France failed to secure more relief measures from the European Union for its struggling farmers, as it tries to contain domestic protests.

France initially favoured lifting the price at which milk producers can sell into public storage but many EU member states were against, recalling times when this led to stockpiles of “butter mountains” and “milk lakes.”

Rabobank dairy senior analyst Kevin Bellamy said in his latest quarterly report that international dairy prices stabilized in the fourth quarter but failed to show any real signs of recovery.

He expected stocks to approach normal levels by around mid-year, saying “Pricing pressure will still build over our (one-year) forecast period.”

Two of the world’s largest dairy companies, Switzerland’s Nestle and France’s Danone, will publish full-year results on Feb. 18 and Feb. 23 respectively. Arla is owned by 12,500 farmers in seven northern European countries.

— Ole Mikkelsen is a Reuters editor based in Copenhagen.

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Milk prices paid to EU farmers are down 20 per cent from last year at 30 euro cents (C45 cents) a litre on average, leaving some farms operating below production costs and upsetting the plans of farmers and dairy processors that expanded capacity before the abolition of EU milk production limits last April.

The ending of output limits in the European Union has contributed to world oversupply just as demand has been curbed by an embargo by Russia — usually the biggest buyer of EU cheese — and a drop-off in Chinese dairy imports.

“The removal of quotas couldn’t have come at a worse time,” said Ian Macalpine, chairman of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers.

The slide in prices has revived memories of a previous downturn in 2009 that saw some EU farmers dump milk rather than sell it.

Protests have spread across Europe this summer, with farmers targeting supermarkets in Britain, France and also Germany, the EU’s top milk producer and a supporter of the quota abolition.

“Europe is a great place to produce milk, you wouldn’t want to stop producing milk here, but farmers will find it difficult to cope with the volatility,” Kevin Bellamy, senior global dairy analyst at Rabobank, said.

Farmer groups are calling for a new form of output regulation, while countries such as France are pushing for an increase in the public intervention price at which producers can sell into storage.

The EU’s executive has already extended aid for farm sectors including dairy, hurt by Russia’s ban on Western food imports, and more measures could follow at a Sept. 7 meeting of EU farm ministers to discuss the livestock sector.

Agriculture ministers from Spain, France, Italy and Portugal met in Madrid to discuss the dairy industry and agreed to call at the Sept. 7 meeting for a temporary increase in the market intervention price for powdered skimmed milk, Spanish farm minister Isabel Garcia Tejerina told reporters.

But EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan said the situation was “nothing like” 2009 and warned against going back on market reforms.

“Milk quotas are gone and they are gone forever,” he said.

Living with volatility

Ireland’s largest dairy firm, Glanbia, said last week it sees prices staying weak into next year, a view shared by analysts.

A recovery from 12-year lows in benchmark global prices will most likely come from easing production in New Zealand, where farmers face steeper price falls than in Europe, and the return of Chinese buyers after destocking, analysts say.

In the meantime, less financially solid EU farms could cut back or stop altogether, particularly in southern and eastern regions that have smaller herds and less grassland.

But in the EU’s northern dairy heartland, stretching from Ireland to Germany, farmers are unlikely to change course as they leverage recently added capacity and provision for so-called superlevy fines totalling several hundred million euros for exceeding quotas in 2014-15.

And some producers remain sanguine given long-term demand in emerging markets, part of the rationale behind ending EU quotas.

“Low prices are just a fact of life. It’s about volatility,” said Rene van Buitenen, spokesman for the Dutch dairy processors federation.

— Gus Trompiz is a commodities correspondent for Reuters in Paris. Reporting for Reuters by Nigel Hunt in London, Thomas Escritt in Amsterdam, Barbara Lewis in Brussels and Michael Hogan in Hamburg.

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U.K. farmers have warned they face financial ruin, with falls in the price of milk forcing many out of work and spurring others to blockade distribution centres and walk cows through supermarkets.

The dairy industry has seen a 25 per cent year-on-year drop in the amount farmers are paid for milk, caused by a decline in demand from China and Russia and exacerbated by a grocery price war in Britain.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has said retailers Tesco , Marks + Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and the Co-operative paid farmers a price based on the cost of production, but others — including Morrisons, Asda, Aldi and Lidl — did not.

Following talks with farmers unions, Morrisons said it had increased its offer to processors of the liquid milk element of its processed fresh milk to a minimum price of 26 pence a litre from later this month and through the winter.

Discounter Aldi said from Aug. 17 it would pay its three processors a minimum of 28 pence per litre for all liquid milk sold in its UK stores.

On Thursday Asda, the British arm of U.S. retailer Wal-Mart, committed to pay processor Arla 28 pence per litre for 100 per cent of its liquid milk volume from Aug. 17 for the foreseeable future.

Morrisons announced earlier in the week that it would create a new brand of milk, “Morrisons Milk for Farmers,” where 10 pence per litre goes back to Arla farmers, giving customers the opportunity to support farmers.

On Friday it announced a similar initiative for cheese. It said it will launch a “Milk for Farmers” cheddar cheese priced at a retail premium of 34 pence-a-pack above the standard Morrisons cheddar price, delivering the equivalent of 10 pence-a-litre back to farmers who supply the milk.

— Reporting for Reuters by James Davey in London.

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Dairy prices have more than halved from record highs scaled in 2013, with Chinese buying dropping off dramatically after the world’s second-biggest economy built up excess supplies of milk powder last year just as the economy began to slow.

Fonterra, the world’s largest dairy exporter, has dominated the commodity milk powder sector for years and had been rapidly expanding its business in China.

But profits have been falling for nearly two years in the face of volatile dairy prices, which sank to a 12 1/2-year low at the latest global auction on Wednesday.

As a result, Fonterra said on Thursday it would cut more than 500 of its 16,000-strong global workforce, and warned more redundancies were likely as it reviews its operations.

New Zealand’s dairy exports to China have tumbled 69 per cent since the start of the year compared with 2014, official data shows, whittling Beijing’s share of the country’s total dairy shipments to roughly 16 per cent, from 37 per cent last year.

At the same time, a ban by Russia on foreign dairy products, imposed in response to sanctions slapped on the country over its role in the Ukraine conflict, has removed a major buyer of butter and other milk products.

Meanwhile, supply has ramped up as farmers in New Zealand, Europe and the U.S. have set up dairy farms in hopes of cashing in on a doubling in dairy prices between 2009 and 2013. Production in New Zealand, the world’s biggest dairy exporter, has reached record highs.

“It’s really both sides of the equation. We had a period of really high milk prices, and that encouraged additional milk production across the globe,” said Susan Kilsby, dairy analyst at agricultural consultants AgriHQ.

“There’s been… no reason to slow production anywhere as feed costs are low so there’s still a lot of signals to encourage milk production. That’s timed with the two largest buyers of dairy products buying less than usual.”

More room to fall

Industry sources say Chinese processors are still working through stockpiles of imported milk powder, prized over domestic offerings due to past safety scares, which is used in everything from confectionary to baby formula.

That has kept Chinese buyers out of the market since the start of the year.

“The optimistic view is that there is 150,000 tonnes of powder sitting in warehouses,” said David Mahon, managing director of Beijing-based Mahon China Investment Management, which focuses on China’s food and beverage sectors. “I think it’s well over 300,000 tonnes, but the mix is hard to know.”

Such a stash would equal roughly half the volume of milk powder New Zealand exported to China in the whole of 2014.

Analysts see the risk of prices falling further, with demand unlikely to pick up soon as Chinese processors work through their existing stocks.

Adding to the expected glut, New Zealand’s farmers are gearing up for the milking season beginning next month after the Southern Hemisphere winter.

“Often at this time of the year you see a faster increase in supply out of the Southern Hemisphere because supplies are tight, but we’re certainly not seeing that this year,” said Kilsby at AgriHQ. “There are certainly opportunities for prices to fall further.”

— Naomi Tajitsu is a Reuters correspondent based in Wellington, New Zealand. Additional reporting for Reuters by Adam Jourdan in Shanghai and Dominique Patton in Beijing.

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