While many point to China as the world's largest dairy buyer, other countries in Southeast Asia have an equal appetite for dairy. While the world's most populous nation (China) currently imports 74 pounds of dairy products for every citizen, its neighbors in Southeast Asia are closer to 42 pounds per person.
That is one of the many reasons Vietnamese media were clamoring for a chance to talk to Philip Karsting, USDA's administrator for the Foreign Agriculture Service who was on hand at the Vietnam Food and Hotel Trade Show. There, Karsting discussed progress on the Tran Pacific Partnership that would create a free trade agreement between the U.S., Vietnam and about 10 other Pacific region nations. Click above to watch the video.
Since this video news report on Tuesday, April 21 in Vietnam, the Senate Finance Committee passed TPP legislation 20 to 6, while the House Ways and Means Committee backed the measure 25 to 13, which now sets up votes on the full Senate and House floors.
Tony Emms, who coordinates the U.S. Dairy Export Council's Southeast Asia trade office, believes that Vietnam and Southeast Asia could quickly catch up to China on per capita dairy consumption. If that were to hold true, the quick math on his estimate would mean the region could employ 763,000 U.S. dairy cows.
How did we arrive at that number?
Importing the equivalent of 8.5 million metric tons of raw milk annually would yield 170 million pounds of raw milk. Taking 170 million pounds and dividing by the national production average of 22,258 pounds of milk, it yields 763,000 cows.
Keep in mind, this represents dairy consumption on the equivalent of China. Consider the fact if the region would match U.S. dairy consumption of roughly 600 pounds per person, that would require a 16-fold growth in dairy exports. While that may seem far-fetched, a number even 25 percent of that figure would be a great deal of dairy products.
(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2015
April 27, 2015
