News dairy market
China significantly expands milk production
China is going to produce significantly more milk this year, at the expense of exporters' export opportunities. In addition, the Chinese dairy market is affected by the strict corona measures in the country.
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Milk production in China will grow by 4,5% this year, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates. This brings the milk lake to 39,65 million tons, which is a record. The increase is a result of higher animal numbers, with production per cow also increasing due to the adoption of modern techniques and genetic progress.
Growth this year is high, although it was even higher in 2020. Then milk production grew by more than 7%. It is expected that the extra milk will mainly be processed into whole milk powder.
Export opportunities are shrinking
The increase in production puts a brake on the export opportunities of exporters, which is also reflected in the European export figures. The estimated import volume of skimmed milk powder falls from 426.000 tons to 400.000 tons. Cheese imports are also slightly lower and are estimated at 170.000 tons. The Chinese demand for cheese has also been slowed down by the strict corona measures, although these have since been relaxed again.
Cheese is mainly eaten outdoors in China. This is not so much the case for butter, which is mainly used by the confectionery industry. Chinese butter imports are reported to increase by 11.000 tons to 150.000 tons this year.