DCA Market Intelligence | Can Maasdam keep its place in a crowded cheese market?

Maasdam cheese has entered a downward trend, following a period of stability early in 2025. Despite its accelerated decline, volatility has eased. This stabilization suggests a more balanced market. However, Maasdam seems to be losing ground to its Swiss-type rival, Emmental. According to DCA Market Intelligence, Maasdam cheese benchmarks closed at €4,665 on August 26, marking a decline of 5.09% compared with the previous month and 7.62% compared with the previous year. This fall reflects the elevated baseline set in August 2024, when prices rose sharply. Since then, values have stabilized, with volatility easing considerably. The coefficient of variation fell from 7.7% to 2.3% between 2024 and 2025, showing that the market has entered a more stable phase.Maasdam is closely linked to Emmental, both competing in the Swiss-type cheese category. A Pearson correlation of 0.984 demonstrates how similarly both products respond to market stimuli. Yet, while Emmental benchmarks have remained more resilient, Maasdam has experienced sharper declines and greater fluctuations.Stabilizing trend in cheese supplyAlthough there are no precise figures for Maasdam alone, overall EU cheese output moved from rapid expansion in 2024 to a period of stability in 2025. Total production reached 9.83 million tons in 2024, an increase of 7.36% from the previous year. By June 2025, cumulative production stood at 4.99 million tons, a modest increase of just 0.66%. Maasdam production is concentrated in the Netherlands, Germany, and increasingly Poland.In Germany, Maasdam is recorded together with Gouda and Edam in the Schnittkäse category. According to the German Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLZ), production rose by 1.6% in 2024 to 790,596 tons. However, cumulative production through June 2025 declined by 4.1% compared with the previous year, falling to 389,553 tons.In Poland, Maasdam is not reported separately, but total cheese output rose by 4.5% in 2024 to 1.05 million tons. Growth slowed in 2025 but remained positive, with production up 3.16% year on year to 544,300 tons by June. The Netherlands has not provided specific Maasdam figures either, but overall cheese production decreased for two consecutive years. Output declined by 1.46% in 2024 to 949,400 tons and fell further in 2025, with production down 1.62% by June to 468,100 tons.Gouda and Edam account for about 74% of Dutch cheese production, leaving Maasdam as a smaller-volume product. Industry experts estimate Dutch production of Maasdam, together with Leerdamer and Dutch Emmentaler, at between 80,000 and 90,000 tons per year. Within this Swiss-inspired category, Leerdamer was first developed as an alternative to Emmentaler and later served as the model for Maasdam. While all three share a similar flavor profile and a fat content of 45 % in dry matter, Emmentaler has a higher dry matter content than Maasdam (above 60% compared with more than 57%). This difference suggests that the intrinsic value of Maasdam is slightly lower than that of Emmentaler.Milk supplyRestrictions on EU milk availability are a major factor limiting Maasdam and overall cheese production. In 2024, milk collections increased by 7.36%, but growth slowed significantly in 2025. By June, volumes were only 0.66% higher than the previous year, highlighting a tightening raw material base for EU dairy producers.Internal tradeTrade data for Maasdam is reported under HS code 040690, which also covers Gouda, Edam, and Tilsiter. In 2024, intra-EU exports reached 2.42 million tons, valued at €13.84 billion. Internal trade flows are 3.4 times larger by volume and 2.7 times higher by value than exports to destinations outside the EU, highlighting the centrality of the European market. Intra-EU trade expanded by 2.53% in weight and 4.86% in value over the previous year.The Netherlands, Germany, and Poland accounted for 52.7% of export volumes. Between 2023 and 2024, Dutch and German exports declined modestly, while Polish exports grew strongly. Exports were mainly directed towards Germany, Italy, and Belgium, which together represented nearly half of intra-EU volumes. In 2025, internal trade showed signs of weakness. By May, export volumes had fallen 0.9% year on year to 991,436 tons, although values rose by 8.4% to €6.01 billion. This suggests that prices strengthened even as demand softened.International supplyAccording to Comext, EU cheese exports under HS-040690 totaled 717,812 tons in 2024, with a value of €5.05 billion. This represented a 3.24% decline in volume compared with 2023 but a 2.25% increase in value, reflecting higher prices. Among the main exporters, Germany increased both volumes (1.88%) and values (10.55%), Poland saw a fall in volumes (1%) but a slight increase in values (1.47%), while the Netherlands experienced declines on both counts: 6.64% in volume and 3.59% in value.The largest export destinations were the UK, the United States, Switzerland, Japan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia, which together accounted for 60.83% of trade.Since HS-040690 includes several cheese categories, the data cannot be taken as Maasdam-specific. ZuivelNL provides more precise figures, reporting EU Maasdam exports at 19,500 tons in 2024, only 2.7% of the broader category. The Netherlands accounted for 77% of exports, with volumes essentially flat compared to the previous year.Destinations were split evenly between Europe and Africa, both receiving 35.9% of exports, with Asia accounting for 10.3%.In 2025, cheese exports increased modestly. By May, volumes increased by 2.1% over the previous year to 289,200 tons, while values rose by 9.9% to €2.17 billion.Subdued demandInternal demand is largely captured through imports into major EU members. In 2024, Germany imported 623,008 tons of cheese, a 3% increase from the previous year. Italy took in 237,263 tons, up nearly 2%, while the Netherlands imported 229,948 tons, a rise of 6.6%. Belgium was the only major market to show a decline, with imports falling 7.1% to 186,152 tons.In 2025, the internal demand has slowed down, evidenced by lower import volumes from Italy (0.9%) and Belgium (3.9%) as of May. Meanwhile, imports increased in Germany (1.9%) and the Netherlands (3.6%). Import values rose across the board, with average prices up 9.1%.On the international side, the UK and Switzerland remain the largest extra-EU destinations. UK imports reached 193,355 tons in 2024, a 1.6% rise, and by June 2025 had increased further, up 7.4% year on year. Switzerland imported 30,382 tons in 2024, up 3.7%, with a slight increase again in 2025.In Africa, Morocco was the leading importer. Although annual data is incomplete, year-to-date imports by March rose by 6.03% to 7,605 tons. In Asia, Japan imported 169,667 tons in 2024, a small 1.3 % decline compared with the year before, but 2025 showed a marginal increase of 0.16%. Saudi Arabia emerged as a particularly dynamic market, with imports rising by 21.3% in 2024 to nearly 70,000 tons, followed by further growth of 11.2% in the first four months of 2025.Discussion and conclusionsThe Maasdam market shows a significant decline after a period of relative stability in 2025. This decline also reflects the elevated price baseline of August 2024. Price volatility has also eased notably, highlighting a normalization in Maasdam prices.Maasdam and Emmental benchmarks displayed a high correlation level, underscoring the integration of both markets. However, Maasdam benchmarks showed a larger drop and a higher volatility, suggesting that Emmental remains a more attractive option in the Swiss cheese category.Maasdam represents a smaller and localized production within the total EU cheese pool, which shifted from expansion to stabilization between 2024 and 2025. National production trends diverged: Germany’s Schnittkase production contracted in 2025, and the Dutch cow cheese output declined gradually. Meanwhile, the total Polish cheese pool expanded. Overall, these trends both underscore an overall limitation in Maasdam production, with a larger growth potential in Poland.Trade data revealed the structural role of the EU internal market, with a size significantly larger than the external flows of the bloc. Nonetheless, a fall in internal exports and elevated prices early in 2025 indicate a softening demand for Maasdam and similar cheeses within the EU. This softening was potentially driven by the elevated prices late in 2024, which might have triggered an oversupply in the last year, impacting both prices and production this year.In 2024, the international market received relatively stable volumes of Maasdam from the Netherlands. Meanwhile, growing imports in the UK, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia indicate a growing demand for cheese in these regions and growth potential for the sector.Overall, Maasdam’s price stability and low volatility reflect a consolidating trend, suggesting a slightly negative short-term outlook, considering the summer slowdown in the whole cheese category. However, structural challenges remain, such as the long-term profitability of production against competing products like Emmental amid the overall limitation of milk availability in the region.Additional references UN Comtrade database, Comext Database, and ZuivelNL