A study forecasts a "dairy export" window of opportunity and calls on our industry to be a more consistent exporter. In October 2009, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy (ICD) publicly released a study of dairy exporting opportunities. The report was entitled, "The Impact of Globalization on the U.S. Dairy Industry: Threats, Opportunities, and Implications." The study arguably is the most comprehensive analysis ever produced of the global economic environment facing the U.S. dairy industry. Dairy Management Inc. and the U.S. Dairy Export Council provided staff assistance for conducting the study. Underlying research was carried out by Bain & Company, a major international management consulting firm. The ICD study points out advantages associated with becoming more globally competitive in dairy exporting. It calls for the U.S. dairy industry to play a larger, consistent exporter role. The ICD forecasts that net global import demand for dairy products will grow faster than net export supply at least through the next decade. The strong import demand growth is projected to come mainly from developing economies in Asia, Latin America, North Africa, and the Middle East. The ICD contends that the U.S. dairy industry can be well positioned to fill the export demand gap (excess of demand over supply) in the near term (10 to 15 years). But, beyond this 10- to 15-year window of opportunity, new sources of low-cost supply from Brazil, the Ukraine, and other countries might deliver significant quantities of competing dairy products onto the world market. That would diminish or eliminate U.S. exporting opportunities. The ICD argues that, if U.S. dairy companies act soon to become more globally competitive, they could escape the role of residual supplier, sell more differentiated (value-added) dairy products in their export product mix, and limit the amount of head-to-head competition they face from emerging country suppliers of commodity dairy products.