Cheese demand drives US milk prices

US dairy farmers are selling milk at the highest prices on record, up by 17% over the previous year in January, according to the Quartz website (qz.com). The impetus behind this increase is cheese exports, which reached 29,000 tonnes in January, a 46% increase over the previous year.

US exports now make up 7.4% of all cheese production, and Mexico continues to be the chief export market, with 25.8% of the share in 2013. However, South Korean cheese demand has increased to 15.5% of total cheese exports, up from 7% ten years ago. This is probably due to the free-trade agreement in 2012 between the US and South Korea, which has made US products more competitive. The country also has almost 70 different pizza chains within its borders now.