U.S. dairy exports have garnered a great deal of attention in recent years. Without a doubt, exports are a success story. However, it's the American consumer that buys 84 to 86 percent of our products. And with dairy exports posting a recent downturn, it's welcome news that Americans are such good customers.
Last year, the average American ate 614 pounds of dairy products. That number was up 9 pounds over the previous year, according to USDA's Economic Research Service. Even more impressive, that total posted the highest mark in four-plus decades.
Nearly all of that product growth is due to cheese, which more than doubled during that window (1975 to 2015) from 14.3 to 33.9 pounds. Also contributing to the cause has been yogurt. That category grew sevenfold since 1975: 2 pounds all the way up to 14.9 pounds per capita.
If you're asking yourself how 19.6 pounds of growth in cheese took place in just 40 years, remember that the 614-pound per capita consumption total is based on milk pounds. If it takes 10 pounds of milk to make 1 pound of cheese . . . the 19.6 pounds of cheese is really 193 pounds of milk.
Even though there is reason to celebrate this American love affair with dairy products, the previous generation (1924 to 1960) actually ate more dairy products. According to USDA statistics, per capita dairy product consumption ranged from a low of 654 pounds in 1960 and a high of 838 pounds in 1931.
(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2015
October 26, 2015
