Butter stocks plummet in the US

Butter stocks in the US plummetted in the later part of 2013. By the end of year stocks of butter were 27% lower than at the same time in the previous year. Typically stocks start to rebound in December but the latest figures released by the USDA show that during December butter stocks declined by 8%.  During the first 11 months of 2013 butter production increased by 1% or 8,900 tonnes. During the equivalent period exports of butter increased by just 260 tonnes. Therefore domestic consumption of butter in the US market must have improved considerably in 2013.  During December cheese stocks did increase by 1% but were still 1% down on the same month in 2012.