It has been 20 years since US Dairy Export Council (USDEC) was founded on the strength of a basic premise. The combination of growth, both in global population and disposable income, would fuel global dairy consumption at a faster pace than inside the US dairy market. This would create dairy opportunities for nations with the capacity and wherewithal to serve the global market.

The factors seemed immutable to those dairy farm leaders, but the exact path and timeline could not be clearly identified. Consequently, a number of doubters existed then, saying global dairy prices would never rise sufficiently to pay an attractive price for US dairy farmers.

In 2002, the US exported 2% of their total dairy production. Since then, US dairy exports have increased almost on a yearly basis until 2014, when they exported 16% of total dairy production worth $7.11 billion (€6.47 billion).

USDEC remains upbeat during the current down cycle of global dairy markets, because of their knowledge of the last two decades and the needs of global customers.

It is hard to understand why US milk prices have remained higher than prices paid the other dairy exporting regions – the EU and New Zealand – at a time when the strength of the US dollar is working against them.

The All Milk Price paid to US farmers for June was $16.90/100 pounds (33.9 c/l), considerably higher than 28 c/l in Ireland or 21.7 c/l forecast for NZ.

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US milk production continues to grow