They say there’s nothing new under the sun, but there might not be anyone in the U.S. dairy industry today who still remembers when the European Union had no production quotas. When the sun rises on April 1, we’re all going to see a new landscape.
Even with 30 years of quota limits on expansion, the EU accounts for nearly a quarter of the world’s cows’ milk production and dairy trade. Milk collections increased 1.1% per year from 2009-13. Left to production decisions based on market signals, output is expected to increase by about 1.7% per year for the balance of the decade – a gain of 2.2 million tons (4.9 billion pounds) of milk annually – according to recent research conducted by the U.S. Dairy Export Council.