German dairy sector sees upswing

The first half of 2016 was at least quantitatively better in Germany than was expected at the beginning of the year. The situation has improved significantly and in particular, the cheese sector has seen stronger price increases than expected, according to the German Export Union.

For cheese, the main export product of German dairies, the amount has increased by 8% over the previous year. The majority is exports to third countries (+ 18.5 %).

But even within the EU, 7 % more German cheese was traded. Member states such as Hungary, Romania and Poland increased demand. However, Sweden, Luxembourg, Lithuania and Denmark held back.

The average price per kilo of cheese has been far less positive, according to the Federal Statistics Office. German Emmental, for example, sold 83,600 tons worldwide, but the average price per kilo fell by almost 16% in June. Similar price developments occurred for Gouda, Edam, Maasdam and Tilsit.

In the segment ‘drinking milk in small packages’ the exports uptick (+4 %) was also achieved by the exports to third countries. Exports to EU countries decreased by 6.6%, mainly because major purchasers France and Denmark each dropped purchases by more than 10,000 tons.

Exports of liquid milk to third countries grew by 32% to about 185,000 tons. In the first six months of 2016, about 115,000 tons were exported (+32 %) alone to China, making the country by far the most significant importer.

The entire African continent (36,300 tons, +8 %) has imported as much drinking milk as France. Except for Libya and Mauritania, which together account for around 78% of the total, low import volumes for the other African countries were noted.

The average prices were also here not positive. For the month of June, the Federal Statistical Office announced for a price drop of 14% for less than 3% drinking milk.

German dairies werehelped by the very good third country business in butter segment to mitigate the losses somewhat. Exports increased by nearly 50% to 9,080 tons.

Within the EU, however, the movement of goods declined by about $3 to 68,600 tons.

According to the Federal Statistical Office the average price per kilogram of butter was 14% lower.

Skim milk powder was positive with 129,000 tons in the EU (+18.8 %) traded, significantly more than in the same period last year. Exports to the Netherlands (+58%) and, Austria and Belgium have all risen sharply.

Exports of skimmed milk powder to third countries have been significantly decreased (-13.6%) to 68,500 tons. This is especially true for Asia (-12%) – notable exceptions are the Philippines and Indonesia.

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