If someone asks you to name the current cheese price, you would probably quote the latest CME block cheddar close. And if you want to hedge your milk costs, your cheese sales or your inventory values, you can do so relatively simply using CME Class III or cheese futures. But if you’re in the milk powder business—either a seller or a buyer—how do you know what a load is worth? And how can you hedge against price movements when prices are all over the board, each series has different rules on which transactions are included and each actor may price off a different series?

Nina Bakht Halal is USDEC’s Middle East office representative, based in Beirut. In this Q&A, Halal answers questions about dairy marketing opportunities in the Middle East/North Africa.

In this issue, USDEC’s Middle East office representative provides a number of insights on the region. Among them: 1) the Middle East is erroneously seen as universally in turmoil; and 2) for U.S. suppliers to make inroads into what is a lucrative and growing dairy market, they need to put in more face time.

U.S. cheese exports grew nearly 16 percent in 2012, breaking the $1 billion mark for the first time. This was no fluke, no temporary spike in sales. This was a milestone more than a decade in the making.