Report 15 – Released on April 15, 2021

WESTERN EUROPEAN OVERVIEW:

In Germany, the largest milk producing nation in Western Europe, there is hope that the tidehas turned for the better. Estimates of weekly milk production in early April finallysuggest that milk production is not only seasonally advancing, but also increasing YOY. Withgenerally strong dairy product prices, maintaining production increases would be mostwelcome.

EU exports of milk during January 2021, 91,980 MT, decreased 0.4 percent from January 2020according to Eucolait.

An interesting situation has developed concerning cheese pricing in Germany and France. Pricing is higher for future contracts. However recent demand for fluid milk has weakened.This has boosted cheese availability for near term purchasing. That has left near termprices more flexibly than prices for new deals later in spring.

Unlike Germany where there has been a trend toward average dairy herd size slightlydeclining each year in recent years, the opposite has occurred in Ireland. Many dairyproducers have been working to expand herd size and milk production. Some cheesemanufacturers in Ireland are close to the limit of milk intakes they can handle. A largeIrish cheese producer is working to gain planning approval to build a new 125 million euroIrish cheese plant in connection with a Dutch company. If the plant planning does not moveahead the company has said it will impose peak milk intake restrictions beginning April –June 2022. Many dairy producers who have expanded will then be left unable to sell all theirmilk production. The current delay results from judicial action challenging whether ingranting planning approval there was a failure to consider environmental effects of theincreased milk production. Farm groups are calling on the government to intervene to movethe process along.

EU exports of cheese during January 2021, 70,482 MT, decreased 9 percent from January 2020according to Eurostat. The top three export destinations, volumes and percent change January2020 to January 2021 are Japan, 9,431 MT, +11 percent; USA, 7,531 MT, -44 percent; andSouth Korea, 4,589 MT, -22 percent.

EASTERN EUROPEAN OVERVIEW:

Ukraine dairy export volumes during January 2021 and percent change from January 2020according to CLAL data made available to USDA are cheese, 400 MT, +24.4 percent; WMP, 200MT, -41.2 percent; SMP, 1,300 MT, +58.3 percent; and butter, 700 MT, -8.0 percent.

Information for the period April 5 - 16, 2021, issued biweekly

     Published by:
     Dairy Market News - Madison, WI
     Eric Graf, 608.422.8590
     Email: Eric.Graf@usda.gov

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