News
Cheese and butter processors pick up production
The USDA says cheese and butter production started to pick up steam in March while other products remained mostly slumped.
Total cheese production was more than 1.2 billion pounds, up 1.4 percent from last year and nearly 10 percent from the prior month. Italian cheese production was up incrementally on the year and more than nine percent from February, while American cheese was up 4.6 percent for the year and 13 percent higher on the month.
Butter production totaled 229 million pounds, up 8.6 percent from the prior year and nearly 13 percent from the last month.
Nonfat dry milk declined by about nine percent from 2024, while skim milk powder was down nearly 12 percent.
Dry whey production was down 12.4 percent while lactose increased by almost two percent on the year.