USDA Expects Dairy Production To Drop In 2020

Acting World Ag Outlook Board Chair Mark Jekanowski anticipates lower milk production in 2020.

"We reduced our milk production forecast by 400 million pounds and that's all reflecting lower milk-per-cow production growth,” he noted.  “We kept the dairy herd size unchanged."

He added while the USDA is predicting a drop, it will still be up year-over-year from 2019 figures, by about 3.7 billion pounds.  And when it comes to dairy products, the USDA reduced imports of cheese and butter, however he does anticipate very strong growth in exports of skim milk powder, especially to Mexico.

"Dairy prices are expected to be stronger than they were last year," Jekanowski said.  “Class III prices are up, Class IV prices are up, and the all-milk price is forecasted to be higher in 2020 than we had in 2019."

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