US dry whey exports are running at their highest level in more than a decade. Buyers abroad took 450 million pounds from January to August, 56% more than a year earlier and the most for those months since 2015, and August alone was the highest export month on record. Over those eight months, exports grew by more than three pounds for every extra pound US plants made.
Two countries account for 83% of the increase. China took 75% more and now buys 44% of all US dry whey exports, while Canada’s purchases rose 140%. Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam also bought more.
That export demand is why CME dry whey has held up while high-protein whey has come down hard. US WPC80 is a third below its July peak, yet dry whey sits 19% above a year ago and close to its October record, even with production up 8% this year and stocks 12% higher at the end of September. Domestic consumption has slowed, so the price is being carried by buyers abroad.
Elsewhere in the US dairy complex, butter production jumped 10.9% in September, at a time of year when stocks are usually drawn down, and NFDM prices rose on every trading day of the week to close in on their May peak.
Read the full US dairy market analysis here.
