The post below covers the volume trends for seven key analytics of the dairy industry. All charts cover the last five years and are calculated as 12-month moving averages to best display trends. How is the U.S. dairy industry doing in 2025? GREAT!
This post will start with milk production (Chart I). The current volume of 18,899 million pounds per month is at record levels. (In Charts II & III, the compounding impact of higher component levels will be covered.)
Chart II covers the butterfat in milk. The chart shows a very steady increase over the last five years. Improving butterfat content is the producer’s best way of increasing revenue and everyone involved has done an amazing job. Over the span of Chart II butterfat content has increased by 9%. All producers can benefit from this.
Chart III shows the steady increases for milk protein. Milk protein has value for Class III milk only which makes up about half of the total milk. It has increased by 5% over the span of Chart III which matches the increase in butterfat for which impact all Federal Milk Orders. Again, it displays an amazing job.
Chart IV displays the increase in cheese production. Over the five years in the chart, cheese production has increased by 8%. The current level is a record 1191 million pounds per month.
Butter production has increased by 7% as domestic consumption has made steady increases and the trends indicate a continuance of these increases (Chart V). The increase can be attributed to a changing image recognizing the health benefits of dairy products.
After decades of shrinking consumption, fluid milk consumption is no longer shrinking, it’s growing (Chart VI). And the volume of milk consumed has not just grown, but that growth is coming from whole milk with 3.5% butterfat (Chart VII).
Exports are showing growth! Chart VII shows the growth for the five major categories. In total, they represent a 29% increase over the last five years. Cheese exports have grown by 55% and now make up over 40% of the U.S. dairy exports.
Lactose exports have increased by 36% but have had no growth over the last two years.
Dry whey and whey protein concentrate have had small declines. Butter exports have doubled but still represent a very small portion (about 4%) of U.S dairy exports.
SUMMARY
Who are the heroes of the above achievements? While thousands have contributed to this success there are three that stand out.
- First are the many professionals, managers, and those that made it happen that worked to increase the butterfat and protein levels in milk. Today’s dairy products require these components.
- The increase in cheese exports of 55% is amazing. U.S. cheeses are amazing and can compete with European cheeses.
- The recognition that dairy products have health benefits has helped. The dairy industry could certainly use some marketing and advertising to further improve the U.S. health.
