2022 was an exceptional year from the perspective of the International Dairy Federation (IDF). Global milk production increased by 1.1% to 936 million tonnes, of which 758 million tonnes was cow’s milk. This made 2022 the second year in a row in which there was only below-average growth in milk volumes. There were increases mainly in milk shortage regions such as Asia (+3.1%) and in buffalo milk (+3%).
In the first half of 2022, there was a decline in milk production as a result of rising production costs; in the second half of the year, milk prices made production more attractive again. In New Zealand, there was a total of 3.8% less raw material available, in the EU deliveries stagnated, as did those in the USA. Dairies focused on cheese, butter/oil and SMP production to the detriment of other product categories. There was a 2.9% increase in drinking milk and a 1.9% increase in butter oil, but this was mainly in China and India. The production of SMP (+1.3%) and cheese (+0.9%) increased only moderately overall. In contrast, the production of VMP fell by 5.4% to 4.7 million tonnes. Whey powder was 0.3% less available.
Global per capita consumption remained relatively unchanged at 117.7 kg (+ 100g) for the first time since 2016. Asia accounts for 49% of global milk consumption, with per capita consumption increasing by 4% to 98 kg. As there were still stocks worldwide, demand remained below production at +0.9%.
World milk trade fell by 4.6% to 90.6 million tonnes. VMP was down 11%, while SMP and cream were down 1.9% and 1.2% respectively. Cheese trade remained more or less stable (+0.1%), while butter/oil trade increased by 10%. The largest trading partner was the EU with 28% of the world market volume (cheese, cream), followed by New Zealand with 21% (VMP, butter).
Global moprop prices reached their highest level since 1990 with an increase of 19.5%.
All this data and much more information on the world dairy industry has been compiled by the IDF in its new Bulletin 527/2023 The World Dairy Situation 2023.
