Report 7 – Released on February 18, 2021

WESTERN EUROPEAN OVERVIEW:

Siberian winds blowing through Germany, France, Italy and other countries brought extremelycold weather, lots of snow, and ice. Even Greece experienced enough snow to ski, which isquite unusual. There are reports of less milk from cows that were struggling with theextreme cold. The weather conditions led to trucking disruptions. Some milk was dumpedbecause milk haulers could not move it from farms to plants. This will be reflected in a dipin milk production, slowing the seasonal trend upward. Additionally, the potential for beingassessed for exceeding quota levels has prompted some dairy producers to take steps tocurtail production increases. In the immediate future this is expected to lead to tightersupplies of butter, SMP, and WMP.

COVID-19 control measures are cited for recent slowing of dairy product cross bordermovements within the EU. Significant delays and traffic jams have resulted, especially onthe border between Germany, Austria, and The Czech Republic. Continuing delays are expectedto impact dairy product prices.

EASTERN EUROPEAN OVERVIEW:

During calendar year 2020 Russian imports of butter increased 6 percent according to TradeData Monitor as reported by Eucolait. Imports of cheese increased 15 percent. Dairy powderimports decreased, SMP -31 percent. WMP -33 percent, and whey -17 percent.