Source: USDA
From February, both total cheese and butter stocks are up– by a marginal 0.07% for cheese and 9.3% for butter.
Compared to March 2013, both stocks are lower. Cheese stocks are 8.6% lower, and butter stocks are 30% lower.
Lower stocks have been expected due to stronger demand both domestically within the US, and via exports. In Q1 this year, there has been strong demand for US cheese from Mexico, Japan and South Korea, and for US butter from North Africa and the Middle East.
There has been strong growth in export volumes, with the latest CWT (Cooperatives Working Together) release showing year-to-date figures of CWT-assisted exports alone being more than double of the growth in year-to-date volume of US milk production. In milk equivalent terms CWT assisted exports accounted for approximately 600,000 tonnes of milk whilst the growth in milk production was 260,000 tonnes.
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