Whether it be low availability for formal distribution channels in certain locations, poor infrastructure, low income or a non-milk drinking culture, Africans do not consume nearly as much milk products as Europeans, said food processing and packaging solutions company Tetra Pak South Africa communications director Penny Ntuli.

Africans regularly consume between 50 ℓ and 150 ℓ per capita, while the World Health Organisation currently recommended 200 ℓ per capita.

“The situation is improving though. Total African consumption is currently around 17-billion litres, which represents compound annual growth of 3.5% since 2012,” stated Ntuli in a press release on Tuesday.

Africa, as a developing market, represented significant growth opportunity for milk producers owing to the burgeoning middle class, urbanisation and previously untapped market potential.

“Growing [ultra-high temperature] UHT volumes indicate that fresh, ambient milk is important to many Africans as a source of nutrition and whole foods. Simultaneously, health and convenience are appealing factors to the growing, urbanising middle class of Africans, supporting growth of on-the-go portion packs of flavoured milks,” Ntuli advised.

In South Africa, UHT milk sales by volume accounted for 53% of market share in 2013, outstripping demand for chilled milk for the first time. In Africa, flavoured milk consumption was also set to increase overall by 7.1%, increasing by as much as 12.4% in North Africa between 2013 and 2016, according to Tetra Pak’s Dairy Index 2014.

However, the irregular, inconsistent supply of electricity was a growing problem for milk distributors, which could only be overcome by powdered and ambient milk products.

The availability of fridges and, increasingly, electricity also contributed to the uptake of UHT milk, with South Africa’s Census 2011, which reportedly canvassed in excess of 20-million people, revealing that out of 14.5-million households only 9.9-million owned a fridge.

On average, there were 3.5 people for every household. Therefore, 16-million people, or one-third, of South Africa’s 51.7-million population were without a fridge at the time.

“Erratic electricity supply is expected to exacerbate the trouble of keeping chilled milk in homes across the country. Chilled milk, which is pasteurised, can effectively be kept for seven to ten days.

“However, bacterial spores begin growing in the milk as soon as it reaches 10 °C or warmer, regardless if it is open or not. UHT milk products do not suffer this problem. They can be kept, unopened, at ambient temperatures for anywhere up to six months, depending on the specific product,” noted Ntuli, adding that only once opened did UHT milk products need to be kept chilled.

Electricity supply was currently a problem throughout Africa, with the total installed generating capacity in 48 sub-Saharan African countries equalling 68 GW, the total output of Spain. 

This was according to African Development Bank Group, which advised that as much as one-quarter of that supply was offline at any given time, owing to poor maintenance and ageing infrastructure.

Although, one in five sub-Saharan Africans simply did not have access to electricity and fewer than 40% of African countries were expected to achieve universal access to electricity by 2050.