Danone has beat its second-quarter sales expectations, as it benefited from higher sales volumes following easing price rises.

The food and drink manufacturer posted that like-for-likes grew 4% in its first half, with a volume growth of  2.1%.  However in the second quarter, the firm raised its prices by only 1%, notably less than the 2.9% rise in the previous quarter.

In Europe, this performance was led by yoghurt brands, including Actimel, Alpro and YoPro, while internationally, its protein and coffee lines also drove growth.

Danone, whose portfolio also includes Activia yoghurt, Aptamil infant milk and Evian water, added that it faced economic challenges such as the deconsolidation of EDP Russia.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique said: “We have delivered a strong performance for the first half of the year, demonstrating consistency in delivering quality growth…

“We keep driving our category growth, further fueling our winning platforms High Protein, Medical Nutrition, Coffee Creations and Away-from-home. We also remain focused on driving our core portfolio, as reflected by the progressive strengthening of our competitiveness across categories.

Danone’s price eases come as other FMCG giants reveal price rises have slowed after three years of sharp inflation.