Monthly Dairy Products Report: Mostly Higher Cheese Production

USDA’s Monthly Dairy Products Report released this week shows total cheese output, excluding cottage cheese, was 1.19 billion pounds, in October. That figure is 0.8 percent above October 2022 and 3.9 percent above September 2023.

Italian-type cheese production totaled 506 million pounds, 1.4 percent above October 2022 and 5.6 percent above September 2023. American-type cheese production totaled 474 million pounds, 0.3 percent below October 2022’s but 2.5 percent above September 2023’s. Butter production was 161 million pounds, 0.9 percent below October 2022, but 12.5 percent above September 2023.

Nonfat dry milk for human consumption came in at 127 million pounds, down 1.2 percent. Skim milk powder production was 42.5 million pounds, down 34.9 percent, from the same time last year. Dry whey total production was 75.6 million pounds, up 0.4 percent, compared to October, 2022. Finally, regular ice cream production was 57.9 million gallons, down 2.6 percent from the same time last year.