Most of this growth will materialise in emerging markets as consumers become increasingly aware of their health, lifestyle and convenience needs.

Tetra Pak is forecasting global LDP consumption to increase by 30 per cent to 350 billion litres from 2010 to 2020.

LDP consumption will increase in every region of the world apart from Western Europe. The most pronounced growth will occur in Asia, principally in China and India where LDP consumption is expected to account for more than 30 per cent of global consumption by 2020.

It may come as a surprise, but the Conference Board expects China and India to account for more than 30 per cent of global output by 2020. While most of this growth hasn’t been realised yet, the urbanisation forecasts for both countries reflect the reality that consumers with greater spending power will be more willing to consume healthier, safer and more convenient foods.

In the case of India, the distribution channel is changing from “loose milk” (unpasteurised milk in large metal cans) to packaged white milk cartons.

Presently around half of India’s LDP sales are in the form of “loose milk”, this is projected to fall to 30 per cent by 2020 as India becomes more urbanised, coupled with the fact that 41 per cent or 583 million of the population will fall under the Middle class bracket by 2025 according to Mckinsey.

In China, the growth in LDP consumption is unsurprising given that urbanisation is set to grow by a staggering two thirds to one billion people by 2030 relative to 2008.