Australia: Dairy and Products Annual

Milk production for 2024 in Australia is forecast to increase by 0.6 percent to 8.50 million metric tons (MMT) after stabilizing in 2023 at an estimated 8.45 MMT from previous years of declining production. The forecast is amid an El Niño weather pattern in late 2023, likely to continue into 2024. The end to economic circumstances that encouraged dairy farmers’ diversification toward beef cattle production has strongly contributed to the stabilization of milk production. Factory use consumption of milk is forecast to increase to 5.847 MMT from an estimated 5.817 MMT in 2023, and fresh milk consumption is forecast to continue its gradual annual decline to 2.41 MMT. A new record cheese production of 445,000 metric tons is forecast for 2024, and the export of cheese is forecast to rise by 28 percent. The volume of butter, skim milk powder, and whole milk powder production are all forecast to decline moderately in 2024. However, exports for these three dairy commodities are also forecast to remain stable.