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USDA: 2018 cheese production tops 13 billion lbs

The USDA says 13.025 billion pounds of cheese was produced in the U.S. last year. That’s an increase of 3% from 2017, with 26.3% of annual production coming out of Wisconsin.

Italian varieties were pegged at 5.557 billion pounds, also up 3%, with American type cheese at 5.254 billion pounds, 3.6% higher. Wisconsin produced 31.1% of Italian types and 19.5% of American types. Italian and American cheese accounted for 83% of U.S. production in 2018.

Butter production was 1.891 pounds, 2.4% above the previous year, with California producing almost 30.6% of the total.

Nonfat dry milk for human consumption was reported at 1.77 billion pounds, down 3.4%, with skim milk powders at 567 million pounds, up 7.0%.

Dry whey totaled 999 million pounds, a decrease of 3.5%, lactose for human and animal consumption production was 1.16 billion, 3.0% higher, and whey protein concentrate totaled 514 million pounds, an increase of 5.1%.

Regular ice cream came out at 840 million gallons and lowfat was reported at 451 million, down 3.6% and 2.2% respectively, while sherbet production was 40.2 million gallons, 6.4% lower, and frozen yogurt production was 50.2 million gallons, a drop of 20.2%.

1,273 dairy plants produced one or more products, down 32 from the year before, with the most plants in Wisconsin, followed by New York and California.