Inside: Dairy Market
More milk in the US, not from California
For the seventh month in a row, the milk supply in the United States (US) is ahead of last year. Compared to previous months, the difference is smaller.
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Milk supplies in the 23 most important dairy states of the United States recorded 7,34 million tons in September. This is an increase of 1,2% compared to the same month in 2016. The lead over last year is smaller than in the previous months. In August the percentage difference was still 2,2%.
More cows, higher milk yield
September was the closing month of the third quarter. In the third quarter, milk supply amounted to 26,7 million tons. This is an increase of 1,6% compared to the same quarter in 2016. The higher milk supply is partly due to an increasing milk yield per cow. This rose to 0,925 tonnes per cow. In addition, the US had 8,74 million cows in September. This is approximately 73.000 more than last year.
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Milk supply in the US, compared to 2016 and the 5-year average.
California down
It is striking that California, the largest dairy state in the US, does not contribute to the higher milk supply. In September, milk supplies there fell by 3,4% to 1,53 million tons of milk. New York, the fourth largest dairy state in the US, also lost 0,4% to around 600.000 tons of milk.
With 10% more milk to 477.500 tons, 'sub-topper' Texas is the largest grower in the US. The consequences of Hurricane Harvey, which hit the state at the end of August, do not appear to affect the milk supply. In addition to Texas, it is mainly the smaller dairy states, such as Colorado and Kansas, that have more than 5% pluses.