Volume up from June 2017. On a total milk solids basis, U.S. exports were equivalent to 16.4 percent of U.S. milk production.  

Volume up 18 percent from May 2017. On a total milk solids basis, exports were equivalent to 17.2 percent of U.S. milk production.  

On a total milk solids basis, exports were equivalent to 18.8 percent of U.S. milk production. Volume up 31 percent from April 2017.

On a total milk solids basis, exports were equivalent to 17.3 percent of U.S. milk production.  

For the first time in 30 years, EU dairy farmers will produce milk without the threat of levies. A USDEC research report assesses six European countries. 

Increased milk production in New Zealand, the EU and elsewhere can't be ignored.  

The U.S. dairy industry saw more than its usual share of potential game-changing developments over the course of the past year—from the unveiling of critical farm bill proposals to the long-awaited approval of free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. But a decade from now, 2011 might best be remembered as the year that whey protein crossed over from an ingredient on the rise to a full-fledged, long-term global growth proposition.

Over the past two decades, Oceania and the United States have eaten into the European Union’s (EU’s) stranglehold on global cheese trade. However, the bloc still typically controls more than one-third of total annual export volume, and in 2010, EU market share rose sharply as volume soared by more than 100,000 tons. The bloc’s dominance leaves one to wonder what might happen after the EU removes its restrictive milk quotas in 2015, allowing farmers to expand output as much as their budgets will allow. Will that milk find its way into the cheese vat, making a formidable competitor even more of a threat?

Rabobank Dairy Analyst Tim Hunt made an incisive observation during his presentation at USDEC’s April Board of Directors and Membership Meeting: The United States is more “exposed” to the level of dairy exports than it has been in the past, and specifically more exposed than the “boom” of 2007-2008. It is now imperative to protect volume and market share gains.

December 2010 U.S. dairy export data is released today, after this edition of Cheese Market News goes to press. So I can’t give you the exact year-end numbers on U.S. cheese exports. But whether U.S. cheese exports topped 165,000 metric tons or 168,000 metric tons (365 million lbs. or 370 million lbs.) is somewhat beside the point. The bigger takeaway from 2010 is just how far we’ve come as a cheese supplier to the world—and how far we can and must go.

Media reports about global food inflation have come fast and furious in recent weeks. And while there certainly are reasons to be concerned that continued price hikes will cause budding dairy consumers in emerging markets to temper their buying habits, there is also evidence that the developing world has come to accept that dairy in the diet doesn’t come on the cheap.

Earlier this year, for the first time, Burger King’s 38 Taiwanese stores began using U.S. cheese on their menus. The debut (on two combo meals and six a la carte burgers) was accompanied by a major promotion for the chain’s made-to-order “Big” burgers.

The global economic recovery is solidly under way in developing countries. Economic fortunes are “reflected in dairy demand [with] strong buying from developing Asia, the Middle East and North Africa,” notes Rabobank. With the developing world getting back on the dairy consumption growth track, U.S. cheese makers have an opportunity to energize sales in a number of regions where they currently sit on the low end of the market-share scale.

Signs of global economic recovery have been slowly, but steadily emerging for the past six months. Certainly no one would say we are safely out of the woods—the recent Greek financial crisis being the latest threat to stability. But on a world scale, news reports of GDP growth are encouraging.

The past three years have been a ferocious rollercoaster ride for dairy prices, and that has raised a critical question about the U.S. industry’s future health: “How do you handle dairy’s inherent volatility to ensure success?”