European Union external dairy product exports were 5% higher in May than the previous month, which is common for this time of year. Exports were down 9% on May last year but were still well above the five-year average. Record volumes were exported to China during the month, totalling 23,659 tons, which was just less than the largest export destination, Russia. Total dairy product exports from the EU for the year to May were down by 9% on the same period in 2012. But volumes in 2013 were 10% higher than the five-year average for those five months.
Cheese and whey products made up the majority of these exports, though volumes were slightly down on April for these products. The largest supply destination for cheese is Russia. Russia has taken a very steady amount, at just over 20,000 tons each month of this year. The volume has only varied within a range of 1000 tons, whereas in 2012 volumes of cheese to Russia varied by up to 9,500 tons each month.
Compared to April, the biggest rises in exports were for skim milk powder (SMP) and whole milk powder (WMP), while most other products remained steady. The rises in SMP exports were relatively even across all export destinations, but volumes to the largest markets, Algeria and China, increased the most, taking 16% and 14% of exports respectively. It was a record month of SMP supply to China, at 5,679 tonnes, though this came after a slow start to the year in which less than 1,000 tons was shipped there each month from January to March. The total for EU SMP exports to China during the first five months of 2013 was 22% below the same period in 2012.
Algeria also took more WMP from the EU in May, with an 87% increase. The rest of the increases in WMP exports were fairly evenly spread amongst other countries.
Source: ADPI