Like several other segments of dairy, most natural and processed cheese categories enjoyed strong dollar sales during a recent 52-week period, but suffered unit sales declines, according to information provided by Chicago-based Circana.

Both categories lost ground, but a number of subcategories bucked the downward trend.

When we last covered the retail cheese segment in a Market Trends report — back in April of this year — the picture was very Gouda across the board.

The natural cheese category managed to avoid gridlocks on the retail side in 2021, cruising at a comfortable speed with positive results. 

Natural cheese sales have been steady for subcategories such as slices and shreds, but others (crumbles, chunks) are struggling. Meanwhile, cheese spreads/balls saw a sales boost in the processed cheese category.