Cheese in France - Statistics & Facts

Among the more than 1,000 types that exist in France, cheese made from cow’s milk is the most sought after. At the same time, goat cheese and Roquefort are also produced - and enjoyed - in high volume. This wide variety of products not only comes from the type of milk used, but also from the way the ingredients are processed: a cheese can be cooked or uncooked, hard-pressed, soft, marbled, processed, etc.
Drawing from ancestral recipes and expertise, sometimes producers have been specializing in a particular method for centuries, and some are now officially recognized. Many departments and regions fight for their local artisans to obtain the much-desired PDO appellation.

In terms of sales, household purchases of cheese amounted to over 8.5 billion euros in 2020, while more than 890,000 tons of it were sold that same year. Hard-pressed cooked cheese and soft cheese made up half of the sales volume. Regarding cheese with an appellation of origin, French households purchased over 140,000 tons of it in 2019, showing once again their interest in the various territorial savoir-faire their nation has to offer.

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