Yeo Valley sees a natural rise in sales

Yeo Valley believes that its range of Natural yoghurt, which was released as a revived fat-free 1-kilo pack earlier in the year, has helped to strengthen the natural yoghurt market after what the company described as a levelling off of sales in 2002.

The new Greek-style fat-free variants that were added to the yoghurt last year, coupled with the "visually striking" packaging design, has landed the dairy group with a 26 per cent year on year increase, said Yeo Valley

Yeo Valley has now got a 21 per cent share of the UK natural yoghurt business, which is four points higher than its position at the start of the year, and the company claims that this increase has helped to lift the natural yoghurt industry as whole. This industry is now worth £47.3 million at RSP, according to Nielsen sited by the company.

"While most attention in the yoghurt market is focused on fruit recipes, natural is still one of the most important sectors", commented Yeo Valley marketing director, Ben Cull.

Organic Natural yoghurt was the first recipe launched by Yeo Valley almost a decade ago, and the company claims that this range has been the basis of its success.

"We have spent a lot of time on the development of the fat free recipe. It has been a very important product addition for us and has helped confirm our position as the natural brand leader, while helping the whole sector to start advancing again", Cull added.