US milk glut sends prices tumbling

Chicago

MILK is flowing like never before in the US, where dairies have expanded output enough to send wholesale prices plunging from an all-time high in September.

Production in the 12 months through October reached 17.08 billion pounds a month on average, up 1.8 per cent from a year earlier, as farmers took advantage of high milk prices and low livestock-feed costs, government data show. At the same time, global supplies are expanding with increased output from top producer New Zealand and the EU, sending US dairy exports in September to a 19-month low.