August 19, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
Dairy
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U.S. dairy exports up in volume in June
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
U.S. dairy export volumes
increased 5 percent in June
year over year, led by record
shipments of whey protein
concentrate.
Shipments of milk pow-
ders, cheese, butterfat, whey
and lactose totaled 161,882
metric tons, equivalent to 14.9
percent of U.S. milk produc-
tion in June, according to the
U.S. Dairy Export Council.
Those exports included
27,926 metric tons of WPC,
up 52 percent over June 2015.
Total whey exports were up
25 percent to 47,479 tons,
with a 13 percent boost in
whey protein isolate and a 2
percent decline in dry whey.
About half of the WPC
exports went to China, which
bought a record amount in
June, said Alan Levitt, US-
DEC vice president of com-
munications and market anal-
ysis.
“China is always by far our
largest customer for WPC,
but (its) month-to-month pur-
chases luctuate,” he said.
The country’s large June
purchase could be a matter
of inventory management, he
said.
USDA also reported a huge
jump in exports of whole milk
powder in June, with vol-
umes more than tripling year
over year. USDEC, howev-
er, thinks those exports were
overstated. Nearly all of that
volume was reportedly sold
to Mexico, but Mexican im-
port data doesn’t corroborate
it.
USDEC is checking into
it, but it was probably skim
milk powder misclassiied as
U.S. dairy exports, June
Product
NDM/SMP †
Whole milk powder*
Total cheese
Butterfat
Total whey
Lactose
Milk protein concentrate
Food preps
Aggregate
Fluid milk (liters)
Total value** ($ millions)
Exports (Metric tons)
June 2015
June 2016
46,703
2,856
26,119
1,470
38,012
33,133
2,106
4,488
154,887
7,694
$450.9
Percent
change
42,569
9,311
23,041
992
47,479
31,141
1,689
5,660
161,882
5,849
$370.9
-9%
226
-12
-33
25
-6
-20
26
5
-24
-18
* USDEC believes USDA’s volume is overstated, misclassified.
† Nonfat dry milk/skim milk powder ** Total value includes fluid milk.
Capital Press graphics
Sources: USDA; USDEC
whole milk powder, Levitt
said.
U.S. dairy exports as a
whole have been fairly steady
for the past year, but volumes
are lower compared with two
years ago, he said.
They are also lower year
over year in the irst six
months of 2016. January to
June dairy exports were down
7 percent, with nonfat dry
milk and skim milk powder
off 11 percent, cheese off 20
percent and milk protein con-
centrate off 36 percent. Total
whey shipments were down
3 percent and butterfat was
down 1 percent.
“Exports are not off the
table, but they’ve shifted into
low gear. It’s more of a buy-
er’s market than a seller’s
market,” Levitt said.
With lots of available prod-
uct and plenty of competition,
buyers are not as aggressive.
The market is oversupplied,
so they can pick and choose,
he said.
The sizable premium on
U.S. cheese and butter com-
pared with the world market
isn’t helping U.S. exports. The
U.S. price for block cheese is
50 cents a pound higher than
the Oceana price, and the
price for butter is about $1 a
pound higher, he said.
Those U.S. prices have
been higher than world prices
for almost two years and have
been attributed to strong do-
mestic demand and tight sup-
plies, he said.
The higher prices are hard
to understand, however, given
the huge cheese and butter in-
ventories in the U.S. and am-
ple production, he said.
Looking ahead, the U.S.
isn’t going to become any
more competitive in world
markets and the EU and New
Zealand have become more
aggressive, he said.
“I think world markets are
going to be fairly depressed
in the next nine to 12 months.
I don’t think export volumes
are going to improve any time
soon,” he said.
Wash. dairy commission Dairy prices ride roller coaster
hires general manager
By LEE MIELKE
Dairy
Markets
For the Capital Press
R
oller coasters are fun
rides at the fair, but not
on the farm. CME cash
cheese prices ended six consec-
utive weeks of climb the second
week of August.
The Cheddar blocks, which
climbed the previous Friday to
$1.8150 per pound, closed the
following Friday at $1.78, down
3 1/2-cents on the week but 8
3/4-cents above a year ago.
The Cheddar barrels, which
hit $1.88 the previous Friday,
closed the following week at
$1.8650, down 1 1/2-cents on
the week, 16 3/4-cents above a
year ago, and 8 1/2-cents above
the blocks. Six cars of block
Board promotes
communications
director
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
traded hands on the week at the
CME and none of barrel.
Cheese was unchanged
Monday and Tuesday as trad-
ers absorbed Tuesday’s Global
Dairy Trade auction and antic-
ipated Friday’s July Milk Pro-
duction report.
Dairy Market News reports
that Midwest milk production
continues to fall and cheese
manufacturers are adjusting pro-
duction schedules accordingly.”
National Milk called on Ag-
riculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
to “help dairy farmers enduring
NDPO Board Members
Mike Eby
Courtesy of Washington Dairy Products Commission
Scott Kinney recently was named general manager of the Wash-
ington Dairy Products Commission.
research into manure man-
agement.
The Legislature this year,
however, passed a bill au-
thorizing the commission to
fund that research and ed-
ucate the public about the
“economic uses of nutrients
produced by dairy farms.”
Kinney said he wants to
highlight how farms turn
manure into useful products,
such as fertilizer or electric-
ity.
“We really want to get it
out there: Farmers are en-
vironmental stewards,” he
said. “You see how com-
munities are building up.
We have farmland being
developed into condomini-
ums. We need to show that
farmers are doing every-
thing they can do to be good
neighbors.”
Washington dairies are
under scrutiny. The state De-
partment of Ecology plans to
issue new manure-handling
rules by the end of the year
that could apply to hundreds
of dairies.
Kinney said the commis-
sion will seek to enhance the
image of dairies in the mar-
ketplace. “Consumers are
the new regulators, if you
will,” he said.
Dairies are assessed 15
34-1/#7
The new general manag-
er of the Washington Dairy
Products Commission says
he will raise the farmer-fund-
ed organization’s profile.
“A lot of people don’t
even know we exist,” said
Scott Kinney. “Farmers say,
‘We’re paying assessments,
what do we get?’”
Kinney had been interim
manager since his prede-
cessor, Janet Leister, retired
in May. The commission
named him permanently to
the position last week. He
was hired a year ago as the
commission’s communica-
tions director.
Kinney’s
background
includes growing up on
his family’s corn and soy-
bean farm in Iowa. Previ-
ously, he was a spokesman
for the Washington State
Lottery and Pierce County
Community Connections,
a county social services
agency.
“I am confident that
Scott’s farming background
and professional experience
will help move the commis-
sion in a new direction as we
share the story of dairy farm-
ing in Washington state,” the
commission’s
chairwom-
an, Chehalis dairy farmer
Michelle Schilter, said in a
written statement.
Kinney takes over a state
agency that has 16 employ-
ees and a $7.7 million bud-
get for the fiscal year that
began July 1.
It also has an expanded
mandate.
The lawyer in the state
Attorney General’s Office
in 2014 advised the commis-
sion that its legal authority
was limited to promoting
and conducting research
on products derived from
milk. The state Department
of Agriculture noted disap-
provingly last year that the
commission was funding
Lee Mielke
cents per 100 pounds of milk
to support the dairy checkoff
program. The state commis-
sion receives 10 cents, while
the national organization,
Dairy Management Inc., re-
ceives 5 cents.
The state commission’s
advertising plans include
continuing to sponsor high
school sports and conduct
promotions with the Seattle
Seahawks and Seattle Mari-
ners.
“For me, it’s about the
emotional
connections,”
Kinney said. “Dairy is part
of a healthy diet. Athletes
can get recharged and re-
freshed.”
Kinney’s salary has yet to
be set. According to Office
of Financial Management re-
cords, Leister’s most recent
salary was $6,488 a month.
Chairman of the Board
Retired - Pennsylvania
(717) 799-0057
meby@wdac.com
Paul Rozwadowski
Vice Chairman
Dairy Producer - Wisconsin
(715) 644-5079
prozwadowski@centurytel.net
Gary Genske
Treasurer
Dairy Producer - New Mexico
(949) 650-9580
garyg@genskemulder.com
Pete DeHaan
Dairy Producer - Oregon
(503) 437-6628
rcowsgetrdone@hotmail.com
Bob Krucker
Dairy Producer --- Idaho
(208) 324-7904
rekkmk@bridgemail.com
John J. King
Retired - Pennsylvania
(717) 284-5756
“We pledge to thoroughly and immediately
review and study each of the issues that
impact the price of milk paid to producers
in order to determine and facilitate needed
changes that may be required to reach our
stated purpose of producer profitability, for
now and in the future.”
the lowest milk prices since the
Great Recession of 2009” by
providing “a measure of relief
by purchasing at least $100 mil-
lion worth of cheese products
for donation to the needy, a mea-
sure that would help both farm-
ers and food insecure Americans
who patronize food banks.”
It remains to be seen whether
in this very political year the ad-
ministration will approve the re-
quest. Dairy farmers have surely
had a rough time of late but, as
the Aug. 15 Daily Dairy Report
points out, “August Class III
futures settled at $17.00, high-
er than in any month since late
2014. Every Class III contract
on the board, which stretches
to July 2018, stands at $16 per
cwt. or higher.”
NATIONAL DAIRY PRODUCERS ORGANIZATION, INC.
Profitability for Sustainability
www.NationalDairyProducersOrganization.com
Let’s Make Our Co-ops Great Again!
Since nearly 80% of U.S. milk is produced by co-op members, U.S. dairy
farmer profitability can be sustained if dairy farmers demand that co-op
management implement the following rules:
1. Accept no non-member milk and sell no member milk, unless the
price paid or received is greater than the member dairy farmer’s
average cost to make the milk.
2. Implement a pro-rata across-the-board reduction in the acceptance of
member milk for processing until the milk supply is balanced with
profitable domestic market demand, which provides a price greater
than the member dairy farmer’s average cost to make the milk.
3. Do not own, operate or be involved with any processing facility,
make any dairy product or chase any dairy market that will not pay a
price greater than the member dairy farmer’s average cost to make the
milk.
4. Use the National Dairy Producer’s Organizations 100 percent USA
trademark on all co-op made products to promote U.S.-made dairy
farmer milk.
www.100percentusa.org
Nobody has an inherent right to profitably sell anything! That right
must be earned in the market place by balancing supply with profitable
demand. Presently, the US dairy farmer has not earned this right, but
could do so by implementing NDPO’s suggestions to better manage
their milk and their co-ops. We cannot do anything about the past BUT,
we CAN do something about our future. Running a co-op is not a
spectator sport. It’s your future – make it a good one.
Become a NDPO member
34-4/#4
OFFICE 949-375-4450 • FAX 949-650-9585
34-4/#4N