(click on image to enlarge)
Note the fall off in "American" cheese imports. In this case "American means Cheddar types such as Colby and Jack to name a couple.
The above table shows imports through March. USITC trade data base only shows through February. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that imports of cheese from New Zealand have fallen by 99.5% (Jan - Feb 09 vs 10).
A representative from Fonterra was asked why imports of cheese had dropped from NZ. The obvious and only answer, there is no money to be made exporting to the U.S. becasue cheese prices are lower than world prices. Bingo!
Fonterra lost their exclusivity for new zealand origin american style cheese to the USA in december 2009. The New zealand export allocation for 2010 was only 238 MT of american type to USA. http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/dairy/subject/quota-management-system/index.htm
ReplyDeletedon't know how this compared to previous years but this could be part of the reason