EU-27 exports were mixed in February across major product categories we track, with declines for milk powders, dry whey, infant formula, milk & cream, FFMP & mixtures and MPC and increases for cheese, fats, lactose and WPC80.
SMP exports were down 28.8% YOY to 47,476t, the lowest level since December 2016, with reduced availability, which generated weaker shipments into SE Asia and the Middle East. The current and projected EU-27 SMP stock and exportable surplus situation is tight, particularly considering the slow milk growth in key producing countries such as Germany and France. WMP exports continued to track lower in YOY terms, falling 16.8% in February to 18,370t (an all-time low in our database which starts in 2010) which reflects much lower production locally. Most of the YOY decline in February was due to weaker sales into the Sub-Saharan and North Africa.
Data for cheese exports to the UK is incomplete at the time of editing but given reported UK imports for the month, we assume shipments of 33,453t to this market in February with total exports of 107,873t. Overall EU-27 cheese exports were up 7.3% YOY in February, but with mixed trends across major regions – growth in the UK, CIS, North America and MENA but declines in Japan, South America and the CIS.
Fat exports were also higher in February – butter rose 21.4% YOY while AMF was 0.4% stronger in YOY terms.
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