News

April cheese production up on year, butter down

The USDA says domestic cheese production during April 2017 was 1.039 billion pounds. That’s 3.7% more than in April 2016, with milk production running at high levels, supporting dairy product production. American type cheese was pegged at 419.282 million pounds, 5.3% higher, and Italian type came out at 448.347 million, up 2.2%. Domestic cheese and butter demand are also positives, but recent cold storage reports have shown supplies at or near record levels because of relatively slow export demand.

Butter production was 164.009 million pounds, 6.8% below a year ago. The USDA’s weekly dairy updates in April said some butter makers slowed down production to better manage inventories.

The USDA’s next cold storage report is out June 22nd.