CHEESE

The consumption of cheese in the form of pizza toppings, cheese blends, salads, sandwiches, stuffing, has
increased due to dietary likeness, ease and flexibility in use and cheese quality. The increase in production
of cheese is about 4% per year from the last thirty years in the world.
Local demand for cheese has grown in such a way that local manufacturers can’t meet and the supply-
demand gap is being filled by the imported cheese. Hence, one can capture certain market share by
producing imported quality cheese at a reasonable price. Realizing the potential of Pakistani market,
foreign companies are starting retail operations in local market. For example, the German-based Metro
Group, wholesalers of food and non-food products has opened their stores in Pakistan and are offering
thousands of products at favorable wholesale prices under one roof. To carry out their operations, they
will require a huge supply chain and they will engage with many suppliers of different products to satisfy
their customers‟ needs, including frozen products. This process has already begun.

Cheese Consumption in Pakistan:

In Pakistan 8000-9000 tons cheese is consumed annually whereas its production is 3200 tons per annum.
The production of Mozzarella in Pakistan is only 500–700 tons. With increasing the popularity of pizza,
the use of Mozzarella cheese is increasing day by day due to the opening of multinational pizza
restaurants. The quality of locally Mozzarella produce is not compatible with the imported cheese.
Though import of Mozzarella in Pakistan is not known exactly but statistics collected from large
multinational pizza restaurants shows that its import is more than 1200 ton per annum.

Marketing and the Business Plan:

The marketing plan for cheese necessitates a very carefully orchestrated strategy revolving around
establishing high value institutional clients in all the major cities of the country along with retail outlets.
The reason for soliciting business from institutional clients is of course cost and repeat orders. Supply in
bulk reduces the cost of packing, transportation, distribution and retail storage (freezers in shops etc). It
also facilitates the cash flow problems, payments collection etc.
Moreover once a client is firmly dependant on the product and recipes are based on the established
quality, repeat orders are almost guaranteed. The growth rate for cheese consumption in Pakistan can be
conservatively estimated at about 16.6% a year across all types of consumers. This however is just an
estimate as there are no official figures available. Keeping in mind the economic growth rate of the
country, the increase in disposable income and the up grading of the quality of life, it is felt that
convenience products such as fast food, pre-packed foods are gaining popularity in the consumption
habits of the population. Pakistan’s food industry is showing phenomenal growth and cheese, and other
items, have great potential.

 One of the value added products of milk is cheese. There are approximately more than 200
varieties of cheese being sold in the Pakistani market. Among them mozzarella, cheddar and
cottage cheese are mostly consumed.
 Cheese is mostly consumed by FMCG restaurants to use in various products like, Pizza, Italian
cuisine, Lasagna, Cheese-Sandwich, Shwarma, Cheese-Burger, Cheese-French fries, Salad
and many more food items. Individual households also consume cheese but their consumption in
terms of quantity is lesser.
 Traditionally, buffalo milk is used to make mozzarella cheese and cow’s milk is used to make
cheddar cheese and cottage cheese. But cheese processors all over the world use goats‟, sheep,
water buffalos, cows, camels, or combination of these milks to produce any kind of cheese.
 The biggest market for mozzarella cheese is pizza industry. Growing number of pizza restaurants
also increases the demand for mozzarella cheese. A pizza is not a pizza without a large handful of
grated cheese topped and melted onto it. The cheese of choice is mozzarella, a stringy and
sometimes gooey white cheese. Unlike some of sharper cheeses such as cheddar, mozzarella has
enjoyable taste with stringing ability.
There are two types of mozzarella cheese that are acceptable for pizza:
1. Low moisture, which has a moisture content less than 50%, and
2. High moisture, which has a moisture content of more than 52%.
 The low moisture version tends to have a longer shelf life therefore it is found commonly
in the grocery store. The later is more popular for the pizza and restaurant industry.
 Cheddar is an immensely popular snack cheese; is often served with crackers, apples, or
pears, fruit pies and cobblers; shredded over salads; melted over pizza and omelets;or
nibbled with crusty rye bread.
Mozzarella and Cheddar Cheese can also be produced from the powder which is “Rennet Casein” a
readily available powder derivative of milk. The cheese made from this powder is called analogue cheese.
The quality of the cheese made from powder is directly dependent upon the quality of the powder used.
There are several types of recipes available for the analogue cheese, which can be modified according to
the requirement of the customers.
Benefits of producing Analogue Cheese:

1. One of the most important benefits is that there is no need of milk to produce analogue cheese,
and for that reason the production can be continued for all the year. There will be no scarcity of
the raw material and the producer will never be blackmailed by the milk producer, nor he has to
be worried about the milk quality and supply.
2. There is a thumb rule that 1kg of the powder will produce 4kgs of cheese.
3. As the powders will be used, there is no need of the back process; like cheese vats, pasteurizers
etc.
4. Quality of the cheese produced from powders will be equal to the quality of the fresh
MOZARELLA.
5. Fluctuations in the quality of the cheese will be minimized as the quality of the raw materials will
remain same, which in case of fresh Mozzarella will be dependent upon the milk quality.

Shelf life:
 Local Cheddar – 6 months shelf life at 4°C (there is no production & expiry date is
written)
 Local Mozzarella – 1 month shelf life at 4°C 6 months shelf life at -18°C to -22°C (in
freezer)
 Cottage Cheese: it has a short shelf-life; it can be increased by adding salt or by reducing
the moisture content of the cheese. Storing the product in an air -tight container also
extends storage life.
 Imported Cheese – 6 months shelf life of all cheese types.
TARGET MARKETS:
The producer of Cheese can target both local as well as export market s. Local market is growing market
as demographic conditions are changing.

Local Market:
There is only one company in Pakistan Adam‟s Milk Foods (Pvt.) Ltd. which is producing Mozzarella
cheese and selling it locally. Amson‟s is a co-brand of the same company. There are also other suppliers
who import Mozzarella and other kinds of cheese to satisfy the local market needs, for example: Makro.
The size of local market is growing due to changing eating habits, increasing per capita income, and
growing number of two-income families.

Noon Pakistan Ltd commenced its operation in June 1972 and its products namely; milk powder, butter
and cheese are marketed throughout Pakistan under the brand name of "Nurpur". Noon Pak is currently
into cheddar and cottage cheese only and planning to produce mozzarella cheese soon.

Al Marai, Arla, Monte Christo, Happy Cow, Kraft, Puck and many more imported brands which
capture major share of Pakistani Cheese market.

A Cheese processor can target institutional clients like hotels, restaurants, airlines and shipping lines.
Imported cheese is sold at premium price in local market because of low competition but a local supplier
faces difficulty in serving this market due to poor infrastructure.

In recent years, Pakistani market is changing and developing rapidly. Many consumer products, which
were considered luxury items in the past, are being used regularly by a larger section of the middle and
lower income groups i.e. mobile phones and mineral water, cheese is also becoming part of such items.

Middle East and Far East countries offer many opportunities to Pakistani exporters of Cheese because the
demand of Cheese is increasing due to growing tourism and economic activities in these countries. These
markets are currently being supplied by the European producers.

Despite a well established cheese market in the above countries, there is still space for more products to
be introduced. The Middle East is especially attractive due to the large Pakistani population who buy
products both in the high end and low end markets.
CONCLUSION:

The food processing industry of Pakistan is growing roughly 10% to 15% annually. Growing popularity
of Western-style cuisine, increasing urbanization, growing per capita income, and increasing two-income
families are fueling this demand. Local pizza restaurants are opening almost in every corner of the road,
which increases the demand for mozzarella and cheddar cheese, interestingly local pizza industry uses
locally made mozzarella and cheddar cheese (Ratio: 50:50); hence one can find growth potential in the
market.

Local demand for mozzarella and cheddar cheese has grown in such a way that local manufacturers can’t
meet and the supply-demand gap is being filled by the imported cheese. Hence, one can capture certain
market share by producing imported quality cheese at a reasonable price.

This is an excellent time to enter into cheese market. Local market is developing rapidly and demand for
fast food is increasing due to growing per capita income, and increasing number of two-income families.
To satisfy the growing demand, many foreign companies are establishing their huge retail stores in
Pakistan. For example, each outlet of Metro would have approximately 100,000 square feet of sales area
and these mega stores are attracting a large number of consumers.

Presence of foreign whole sellers in local market will expand our consumer market by many folds. In our
country, there is limited number of cheese producers specially producers of Mozzarella and Cottage
cheese. This situation presents a golden opportunity for new food processors to enter into a rapidly
developing consumer market and position themselves carefully as a supplier of quality cheese while the
competition is low.

B2B Marketing should be the main focus for Pakistani business for successful penetration in the
international market. Successful, profitable and self-sustaining food-processing industry cannot be based
on the occasional marketing campaign. It requires aggressive and steady marketing efforts to establish a
presence in the international commodity markets. New suppliers who want to break into the international
market have to introduce products that are of good quality, well -packaged and competitively priced.