Rising income and rapid urbanization are two of the reasons outlined in USDEC report. 

It could increase infant formula consumption by as much as 10 percent.  

Could the co-product stream from Greek yogurt manufacturing can be a revenue generator like cheese whey?

China’s appetite for imported UHT milk could grow four-fold to more than 1.3 billion lbs. by 2020.

United Nations-endorsed scoring system demonstrates the superiority of dairy proteins compared to plant proteins.

One of the prerequisites is improving knowledge transfer between farmers, researchers and end-users.

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.

It is time to embrace milk protein concentrates (MPCs).

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?

In the ongoing maturation of the U.S. dairy industry as a global player, we took another step forward in 2012.

From Day 1, the U.S. Dairy Export Council’s (USDEC’s) message to the U.S. dairy industry has been one of global trade opportunities created by the rapidly expanding middle class in emerging markets. Higher per capita incomes for the middle class, particularly when coupled with population growth, equate to a significant rise in dairy consumption—so significant that traditional exporters and those markets’ own domestic industries would not become able to meet their needs.

Another year will soon be in the books and given market conditions, it was, from an export perspective, a pretty good one. Through 10 months, U.S. dairy exports grew 11 percent to $4.4 billion. Volume of major products rose a combined 5.5 percent to more than 1.3 million metric tons. Despite slower action later in the year than earlier, these are good numbers.

We’re in the right place at the right time. The global dairy industry is a growth sector―that much is crystal clear.

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.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced it would reduce its global economic growth forecast for 2012. It was the latest in a line of unfavorable economic news from around the world, and it raises an important question: With global growth struggling in a time of increasingly globalized dairy markets, what does that mean to world dairy trade and U.S. exports in particular?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s release of year-end export data today spoke two messages loud and clear: 1) The U.S. industry has traveled a long way on the path toward becoming a consistent global dairy supplier, and 2) the U.S. industry will need to remain vigilant to maintain and build on last year’s solid performance, particularly in the face of tougher market conditions.

The New Year brings with it numerous reasons for dairy optimism, as well as thorny questions. What follows is a look at key issues the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) expects will dominate our discussions in 2012

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?

In the last three years, China has become the world’s largest single dairy importer—by far—purchasing more than twice as much as runner-up Russia. As such, it’s almost impossible to understate the impact of the melamine crisis on the global dairy situation since the fall of 2008.