News

May U.S. cheese production up 4%

May 2017 was another big month for domestic cheese production. In late spring, U.S. milk production held at high levels, pushing a lot of that supply into dairy products. Domestic demand is good, but exports remain slow because of international competition.

Total U.S. cheese production was 1.051 billion pounds, up 4% from May 2016, with a 1.2% increase in Italian type cheese to 450.519 million and a 5.7% rise in American cheese to 425.276 million pounds.

Butter production was down 1.5% on the year at 163.506 million pounds as churners respond to high supply levels. Nonfat dry milk for human consumption was pegged at 168 million pounds, up 1.2%, and skim milk powders were 51.0 million pounds, a slight increase.

Dry whey totaled 82.8 million pounds, 0.5% higher, lactose for human and animal consumption came out at 94.8 million pounds, up 1.8%, and total whey protein concentrate production was 41.7 million pounds, a 6.1% rise. Hard regular ice cream was reported at 72.6 million gallons, down slightly, with lowfat at 42.5 million gallons, up 5.3%.

The USDA’s next set of milk production numbers is due out on the 20th with the cold storage update on the 24th.