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U.S. Dairy Exports Surge to $9.51 Billion in 2025

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:50:01 GMT

The U.S. dairy industry closed 2025 just shy of an all-time export record, signaling strong global demand and growing diversification across international markets.

According to calendar year 2025 data released by USDA, U.S. dairy exports reached $9.51 billion, narrowly missing the record $9.54 billion set in 2022. That total is up 15% from 2024, showing how U.S. dairy continues to gain ground in global markets.

In addition to higher value, export volumes also increased. According to the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), U.S. dairy exports totaled 2.8 million metric tons in 2025, up 5% from the previous year. Growth was driven largely by expanding demand in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and South America, regions that are playing an increasing role in strengthening and diversifying U.S. dairy exports.

“This near-record year demonstrates that U.S. dairy exporters are succeeding in diversifying both markets and product portfolios,” says Michael Dykes, IDFA president and CEO. “Growth across North Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, South America and the European Union reflects a deliberate strategy to reduce concentration risk, deepen customer relationships and compete in emerging and established markets alike. Today, U.S. dairy exports reach 143 countries, and our product mix spans consumer-ready foods, high-value ingredients and specialized nutrition products — a level of diversification that strengthens long-term export resilience.”

Regional Growth Highlights

Export growth in 2025 was broad-based, with several regions posting double- and even triple-digit gains. The following breakdown from IDFA highlights how U.S. dairy exports performed by region:

North Africa — Exports surged 107% by value and 69% by volume, reflecting accelerating demand across the region.
Middle East — Exports grew 48% by value and 19% by volume, driven largely by processed cheese, sweetened milk powder, whey protein powder and concentrate, lactose and natural milk products.
South Asia — Exports grew 63% by value and 25% by volume, led by strong growth in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. U.S. dairy exports to India alone increased 71% by value and 31% by volume.
South America — Exports grew 14% by value and 7% by volume.
Central America — Exports grew 19% by value and 13% by volume.
North America — Exports grew 6% by value and 2% by volume.
East Asia — Exports grew 14% by value and 2% by volume.
European Union — Exports increased 61% by value and 69% by volume.
Sub-Saharan Africa — Exports grew 9% by value.

Higher-Fat Products Help Drive Momentum

Demand for higher-fat dairy products saw a sharp increase in 2025, contributing to overall growth in U.S. dairy exports. Global export volumes rose by approximately 165% for butter and milk fat and by 56% for whole milk powders, reflecting shifts in global purchasing patterns and increased use of these products in both consumer foods and food manufacturing.

Several other categories also posted solid gains. Dairy spreads, whey protein concentrates and cheese were among the stronger-performing products, indicating continued demand for both value-added ingredients and consumer-ready dairy products across a range of markets.

Combined with broader regional growth, higher export volumes and near-record export value, U.S. dairy continues to expand its role in international markets.

“Looking ahead, our industry is poised for even greater growth,” Dykes says. “A renewed trade agenda that expands market access, strengthens enforcement and opens new opportunities in Southeast Asia, Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East will allow U.S. dairy exporters to compete and win in markets around the globe.”

With momentum already built in 2025, the outlook for 2026 points toward continued export gains fueled by expanding opportunities.

Fewer Cows and Lower Protein Levels Have Done Little to Move Prices

Thu, 18 Apr 2024 17:36:55 GMT

Spring flush has arrived, and discounted spot loads of milk are available. Cream multiples, a pricing mechanism for milkfat, are also moving lower on ample fat supplies. This apparent surplus is happening when U.S. dairy producers are milking fewer cows than a year ago and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which can negatively impact milk production, is being confirmed in more dairy herds.

According to Betty Berning, analyst with the Daily Dairy Report, the total pounds of fat being produced are higher than a year ago, but milk production and total pounds of protein are down. “With tempered demand for cheese, nonfat dry milk, and sweet dry whey powder, which all use protein and skim-solids, declining protein levels have not yet impacted markets,” Berning said. “However, if demand picks up, manufacturers could be forced to scramble to find enough protein and skim solids to keep up.”

International demand for U.S. dairy products has not kept pace with year-earlier levels for more than a year, but signs are starting to emerge that demand for U.S. dairy could soon pick up, Berning noted. For example, U.S. dairy exports in February were higher on a year-over-year basis, but it remains to be seen whether international buying will continue to best year-ago levels going forward, she said.

In 2023, demand from Mexico was a bright spot for U.S. dairy exports, and the country has continued to aggressively buy U.S. dairy products in 2024. Dairy shipments to Southeast Asia also improved in February. “If that momentum continues, Class III prices, which are now at less-than-breakeven, could increase,” Berning said.

Another factor that could undergird milk prices is an ongoing contraction in the U.S. dairy herd, according to Berning. However, slaughter rates this year have slowed from the rapid pace set in the first eight months of 2023. For the week ending March 29, 123,800 fewer dairy cattle, a dop of 16.5%, were sent to packing plants, compared to the comparable week in 2023.

“While prices for live cattle have fallen in recent weeks, they remain at elevated levels historically, and they provide a sizeable paycheck for producers sending cows to slaughter. With the smaller herd size and higher heifer prices, though, the opportunity cost of sending a cow to slaughter has increased from a year ago. This year’s cull rates will likely continue to lag previous years as producers work to keep their barns full,” Berning said.

Another unknown is HPAI, but “at this point, it has not had much of an impact on milk production or milk markets,” Berning noted. “The illness continues to pop up in more states, with cases reported in North Carolina and South Dakota last week. Some states have even started to curtail the movement of cattle to prevent the disease from spreading, she said, but because waterfowl are the carriers of HPAI, more cases are likely as migration continues.

For more on milk prices, read:

Ready for Milk Freedom? In Ireland, the Answer Is a Definite Yes

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:52:22 GMT

In the ground floor lobby of Ireland’s Agriculture Department in Dublin, a flat-screen TV displays a digital clock counting down the seconds until April 1.

That’s when the European Union removes production caps that limited dairy expansion across the continent for three decades. Call it milk freedom day. Ireland has been gearing up for it since 2010. Companies, farmers and the government have spent hundreds of millions of euros on more processing plants, equipment and cows in a bid to become the world’s fastest- growing dairy producer.

Even though a global milk surplus has left dairy prices near a five-year low, farmers on the Emerald Isle are still pushing ahead with expansion plans because they’re low-cost producers, exploiting a rainy climate and a grassy countryside ideal for grazing. Boosting output will allow the country, still recovering from its worst recession on record, to add 10,000 jobs in the next five years, including as many as 4,000 on farms, the government estimates.

“This is a big deal for Ireland,” Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said during an interview March 12 in Dublin. “A lot of our farmers have the capacity to increase milk production significantly.”

Selling Overseas

For now, an expanding Irish milk industry is unlikely to have much impact on global supplies. Coveney estimates that the country’s annual output will surge 50 percent in the decade through 2020 to about 7.5 billion liters. That’s about what cows in the U.S., the world’s top producer, yield in a month and less than the state of Wisconsin last year.

But that won’t take away from the sense of anticipation on Irish farms. While countries including Germany, France and the U.K. are bigger producers in Europe, Ireland may have the most to gain from lifting quotas. It exports 90 percent of its supply, and virtually all the extra milk will be sold overseas.

Ireland’s dairy cow herd has increased 6.4 percent in the past two years, the fastest gain in the 28-country bloc, Eurostat data show. Ending quotas will unleash supplies that farmers withheld to avoid EU fines, with some milking cows just once a day instead of twice, or not at all, said Sean O’Leary, the chairman of the Irish Farmers Association’s dairy committee.

More Efficient

Plus, farmers are now freer to use new technologies that boost milk yields, from better cow breeding to more efficient grassland management, said Mark Faherty, an economist at the Irish Dairy Board, a cooperative that makes Kerrygold butter and is the country’s largest dairy exporter.

“As of April 1, we’re going to start registering very rapid growth,” Faherty said in an interview in Dublin. “Quotas have been an imposition almost from the start. But there have been so many gains in agriculture productivity since then.”

The EU sought to stabilize milk prices in 1984 with quotas after government purchases of surpluses intended to aid farmers instead led to overproduction. The bloc began phasing out quotas in 2009, raising production limits by about 1 percent annually until this season, when caps were held steady before their removal in the marketing year that starts April 1.

Exploiting Change

Even with global dairy prices down 34 percent from a record in February 2014, the average since 2010 is about 60 percent higher than in the previous decade as rising incomes boosted demand, United Nations data show. Futures of benchmark Class III milk, a type used in cheese making, are down 4.8 percent this year to $15.15 per 100 pounds on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Ireland may be one of the few countries to exploit the quota change. The European Commission estimates production across the EU will rise by 1 percent this year to 162.4 million metric tons. Many EU countries, especially in southern areas, already produce less than their allotment and are unlikely to ramp up, said Kevin Bellamy, a senior dairy analyst at Rabobank International.

The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Denmark, the U.K. and Germany will see some increases, though none as fast as Ireland, he said. Cows tend to be smaller and hardier in Ireland than the larger Holstein breeds in northern Europe, where animals spend more time indoors eating grain or soybean meal.

Cheap Producer

Ireland is “one of the cheapest places to produce milk in Europe because of their grass and because they keep their cows outdoors for longer,” Bellamy said by telephone from Utrecht, Netherlands. “If you want to be reincarnated, come back as a Dutch cow, because they live in luxury accommodations and centrally heated palaces.”

Lower costs will come in handy, with average EU milk prices 21 percent lower in January compared with 2014, according to the Dutch Federation of Agriculture & Horticulture. Rising supply comes as demand growth slows in China, the world’s top importer of milk powders. Russia, the biggest buyer of butter and cheese, banned purchases from the EU in response to sanctions over its intervention in Ukraine.

EU farmers are receiving 33 euro cents a kilogram on average for milk, about break-even for many producers in continental Europe, Faherty said. Irish farmers can be profitable at 28 cents, he said.

Getting Ready

The country is expanding with an eye to New Zealand, the world’s biggest milk powder exporter. The two island countries have similarly cool, rainy climates conducive to grass. Before EU quotas were imposed, Ireland and New Zealand produced a similar amount of milk, said Coveney, the agriculture minister.

Companies are getting prepared. Glanbia Plc is spending 235 million euros ($250 million) on expansion projects including a facility in Belview that opened this month to produce milk powder for export. The Irish Dairy Board has invested 200 million euros, including starting this year to build a plant in County Cork, Faherty said. Dairygold is spending 117 million euros to expand processing plants in Mallow and Mitchelstown.

Farmers will be ready to supply those processors extra milk after quotas end, said O’Leary, who expanded his own herd near Mourne Abbey in County Cork this year to 120 cows from 80 about two years ago.

“The EU had a situation where anyone in this business couldn’t actually grow their business,” said O’Leary, who expects to produce about 60 percent more milk this year after selling off his beef herd to buy more dairy cows. “We’re going beyond that now. Farmers are optimistic about the future.”