Inside Milk
United States milk supply continues to grow
The size of the milk lake in the United States (US) has been showing significant growth for several months compared to the levels achieved in 2020. This strong upward trend will also continue in June.
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The increase in production can be explained by both an increase in the number of dairy cattle and higher production per cow. American dairy farmers in the 24 major dairy states increased the total number of cows kept by 161.000 to 9 million cows. The production of the cows present increased by more than 12 kilos on a monthly basis.
Strong volumes
US livestock farmers delivered about 8.210.020 tonnes of milk to processing plants in June, according to figures from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). That is 3,2% more than the amount of milk collected in June 2020. At that time, the total volume of milk in the United States was approximately 7.937.870 tons of milk.
Very strong quarter
Significant increases in milk supply were also achieved in the months of March, April and May. Although milk supply in the United States has been setting new records year after year, the increases now appear to be accelerating even further. The total milk supply in the second quarter of 2021 (26.371.838 tons) was 3,7% higher than in the second quarter of 2020 (25.432.903 tons).
Milk price incentive
Milk prices have also risen in the US this year, encouraging production expansion. At the same time, international dairy quotations are now showing some weakness. This is caused, among other things, by the large volumes of milk offered in the United States, according to analysts after the most recent drop in prices on the Global Dairy Trade.