Purchases by the major buyers was flat, after five years of healthy growth.

Overall volume and value is the lowest since February.

Ban heightens global competition as displaced European exports seek alternate ports.

But overall volume is down as other products are lagging.

The rebalancing of world dairy markets is still beyond the horizon.

U.S. suppliers maintaining most of their overseas business.

Reduced purchases leave world markets in an over-supplied situation.

It’s still a buyers’ market as SMP prices approach EU intervention levels.

Record highs on NDM/SMP to Mexico, cheese to South Korea.

The last few years it has been fashionable to talk about the growth of China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East/North Africa region. But Mexico has been No. 1 all along.

Prices soft heading into US/EU spring flush.

Cheese and NDM/SMP make a good showing.

A reduction in imports from China and Russia has not been absorbed by other countries.

Declining trend continues; West Coast port bottlenecks don't help.

A strong start to 2014 overcame a weak finish to assure a fifth consecutive record for U.S. dairy exports.

Radio interview with USDEC's Al Levitt tells the story, along with what's needed to stay No. 1.

In 2013, six Southeast Asian nations purchased U.S. dairy goods totaling nearly $1.3 billion.

Hershey Co. announced last month it was launching a new brand in China called Lancaster. The product is a “milk candy”—a $1.2 billion category in China and one of the nation’s fastest-growing candy varieties.

Regular readers of this column know U.S. dairy exports have been steadily rising over the past decade-plus. The volume of U.S. milk solids shipped overseas grew from the equivalent of 5.5 percent of total annual solids produced in this country in 2000 to 13.3 percent of solids produced last year. And as we mature as an exporting industry, the composition of those exports is changing. Not only are we exporting more dairy products, we are shipping a far greater percentage of higher value, higher profit items than ever before.