Dairy goods production down in June

USA – Production of butter, cheese and nonfat dry milk was significantly down in the USA during June, while it was no surprise that ice cream production grew, compared to May.

The United States Department of Agriculture released figures showing production in the USA this week in its ‘Dairy Products: June 2003’ report.

Total cheese output was 323,900 tonnes, down 3.8% on May. There was some good news for cheese producers – the figure was 0.8% higher than the same time last year.

However, American type cheese production fell 1.5% below the June 2002 figures, and 3.4% below May 2003, to a total of 140,200 tonnes.

Butter production for June was 40,780 tonnes, 6.2% below June 2002 and 21.6% below May 2003.

The summer sun has had a positive impact on ice cream sales however, with 316 million litres being produced, an increase of 3.5% on June 2002, while lowfat ice cream fared even better – production increased 15.3% on the same time last year to 163 million litres.