World Dairy Report Indicates Growth within Industry

By CnAgri Print

A report summary, promoted at this weeks World Dairy Summit, outlines 2011 as being a positive year for global dairying.

"Last year was a golden dairy year," said Adriaan Krijger, editor of the World Dairy Situation 2012 report. The report, based on questionnaires filled in by the national committees of the International Dairy Federation, showed that global milk production jumped by 2.5 percent to 749 million tonnes in 2011 on the back of higher milk prices.

Speaking at the World Dairy Summit currently on in Cape Town, Krijger said that this increase in milk production was an improvement on 2010's year on year increase of 2 percent.

"The weather in 2011 was favorable and demand for dairy products was strong, resulting in higher prices," he said. "The extra milk production was easily absorbed by the global market."

Krijger presented data which showed that world output for every dairy product was higher last year, but growth was especially pronounced in the butter and skim milk powder categories. The demand for butter last year is largely attributed to exceptional growth in the U.S. and New Zealand.

"Part of the reason why the demand for skim milk powder improved so much was that many manufacturers felt that whole milk powder was too expensive and instead switched to using skim milk powder in conjunction with milk fat," he said.

As far as dairy consumption patterns went, there was a strong improvement over the past six years in South America (26 percent), Africa (22 percent) and Asia (13 percent), while the demand in Europe declined.

The four major dairy exporting countries are the European Union, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.