Global Milk Output Jumps 🥛

MARKET NEWS

Global Milk Output Jumps 🥛

Daily Dairy Report | October 13, 2026

World milk production grew at its fastest rate in over a decade, driven by robust expansion in U.S. and European milk output. Together, the world’s five largest dairy exporters—the European Union, United States, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia—pumped out nearly 211 million metric tons (MMT) of milk between January and August, 2.9% more than in the first eight months of 2025. That growth rate was nearly four times higher than the preceding decade, when annualized growth averaged 0.8%. Output has not expanded this quickly in the top five exporters since 2014, when Europe abandoned production quotas that had capped growth for 30 years.

In August, milk output in the major exporters topped 26 MMT, or 58 billion pounds. Production was 0.9% greater than the year before, building on the impressive 3.6% yearover-year growth logged in August 2025. The United States contributed nearly two-thirds of the increase. Growth in Europe shifted into lower gear in August after a punishingly hot summer.

Gargantuan growth has added significantly to the world’s supply of butterfat and cheese. In USDA’s July update to its semi-annual Dairy: World Markets and Trade report, the agency forecast that cheese output in the top-five exporters would grow 1.9% this year, with every major player stepping up production and exports. For butter, USDA predicted that the major exporters would boost output by 97,000 MT, a 2.6% increase. USDA alsoanticipated that India’s butter production would jump 245,000 MT this year, but greater domestic consumption would absorb the massive growth in the world’s top butterproducing nation. With every major player competing harder for exports, dairy commodity prices will likely remain under pressure. This week, CME spot Cheddar blocks and international cheese prices were 17% lower than they were a year ago. CME spot butter has fallen 22% over the past 12 months. Over the same period, EU and Oceania values plummeted 30%.

NMPF NEWS ALERT

• NMPF announced its annual cooperative communications contest winners last week. Dairy Farmers of America took this year’s top award of Cooperative Communicator of the Year, as well as top prize in eight categories. Ben Smith, a Maola Local Dairies member-owner, was named NMPF’s Farmer Communicator of the Year.

Baldwin blasts new USDA requirement for dairy funding program

Agri-Pulse Daybreak (Starts at 08:54) – Oct. 13

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin is protesting the Agriculture Department’s decision to force four dairy business innovation centers to provide a 25% match in order to receive federal funding. In a letter, Baldwin called the requirement “unattainable” for the Dairy Business Innovation Initiative centers, one of which is in Wisconsin.

FDA issues final rule on salt substitutes in standardized foods  

Quality Assurance & Food Safety Magazine – Oct. 12

The FDA issued a final rule to permit the use of salt substitutes in foods with standards of identity (SOI) that specify salt (sodium chloride) as a required or optional ingredient. The final rule is intended to give manufacturers of foods subject to SOI regulation the flexibility to reduce sodium, enabling innovation and the production of healthier standardized foods, said the agency.

NMPF’s Gregg Doud: Managed China trade deal better for dairy  

Dairy Herd Management – Oct. 12

Gregg Doud negotiated the China Phase One deal during the first Trump administration, which means he knows exactly how U.S.-China ag trade works when it’s working — and how badly it breaks when communication stops. So, when President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping sat down last week and hammered out a $30 billion trade framework, Doud had a take that might surprise some free-market purists.

FFA students challenged to see beyond the traditional ‘ag job’  

NBC DFW 5 (Dallas-Fort Worth) – Oct. 12

A couple of hundred students learned there's something good in agriculture beyond what they traditionally think of as an "ag job." The Ariat Texas Rattlers hosted nearly 200 FFA students from across Texas in Fort Worth for the new Chevron Ride Into Your Future career event. It's about showcasing the future of agriculture.