Total US cheese production is 3.1% greater than the same month a year earlier. 2.5% more cheese was produced in July than June. Production of both Italian type and American type cheese was up. On a year-to-date basis, total cheese production is up 2.3% in the US.
Butter production was 6.2% less than in June and 3.2% less than the same month the previous year. Butter production is 1.7% lower on a year-to-date basis than at the same time in 2014. The decrease in butter production has helped support US domestic butter prices.
Nonfat dry milk (NFDM) production totaled 155 million pounds, 6.9% less than that produced in July 2014. Skim milk powder (SMP) production was 23% up year-on-year for the month of July. A total of 35.1m pounds of SMP was produced in July. On a season-to-date basis NFDM production is up 8.5% and SMP production is down 22.9%. The strength of the US internal markets has meant more NFDM has been produced for the domestic market rather than SMP which is typically produced for the export market.
Dry whey production is 9.5% greater than a year ago when measured on a season-to-date basis. The dry whey markets remain weak. The additional production is keeping the price of this product relatively low.
