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USDEC’s Vilsack says Q-1 dairy exports up, despite COVID-19
The President of the U.S. Dairy Export Council says first-quarter dairy export numbers had improved.
Tom Vilsack says, “For the first three months in 2020, we actually exported 44-thousand more metric tons of product than we did in the previous year for the first three months of 2019.”
Tom Vilsack says the coronavirus started to impact many of the export market areas late last year and early this year, so they were anxious to see the first-quarter data. Vilsack says that the early 2020 increase added 237 million dollars in value to American dairy exports.
Vilsack says comparing 2020’s first quarter to the same period in 2016, dairy export sales are considerably higher. “We actually see 109 thousand metric tons more being sold in that first three months in 2020 notwithstanding the virus, an increase in the value of 528 million dollars over what was sold in the first three months of 2016.
Vilsack says by adding people, partnerships, and promotions, Southeast Asia has now surpassed Mexico as the number one market for U.S. milk powder. And, he says North Africa and the Middle East are seeing increased U.S. cheese sales in part because of placing recipes in grocery bags and even on consumer’s doorknobs.
