Viva Le Curds and Whey!

Dairy Foods, May, 2001 by Jerry Dryer

Hats off to the cheese and whey manufacturers and marketers of the U.S.A. Theirs is a success story other segments of the dairy foods business should emulate. And it's a success story that now extends around the world.

Increased in per-capita consumption of cheese kicked into overdrive back in the 70s and just kept right on truckin'. Last year, every man, woman and child in this country ate (on aver age) more than 30 pounds of cheese. If you count like the French and include cottage cheese, it totals nearly 35 pounds.

On the flip side of the cheese business, whey makers and

marketers are also making waves. We didn't even have much of a whey business back in the 70s, but that's when the government came along and said: "Guys, you can't be dumping your whey into the creek any longer."

By 1980, cheese heads and whey gurus had figured out how to produce a host of marketable whey products. They cranked out nearly 700 million pounds of product that year. Last year saw dry whey production of 1.2 billion pounds, plus 380 million pounds of whey protein concentrate and a half a billion pounds of lactose.

Unlike government-sanctioned skim milk powder producers, the whey crew has to find a commercial customer for every pound produced. And that they have done, from around the globe. In fact one third of the whey and nearly half of the lactose produced last year found a home in the export market.

Add it all up and you'll find that US whey and lactose ex porters tucked about $215 million in their wallets during 2000.

Cheese heads are also figuring out how to load containers bound for overseas markets. Cheese exports last year: Forty seven thousand tons worth $138 million.

Cheese exports only accounted for a little more than 1% of last year's production, but remember: The domestic market is huge and exports grew by 22% last year.

Why are the curds and whey folks so successfully growing their business here and abroad? It's the marketplace, folks. They are making the products their ever-fickle customers want and putting these products in the packages and configurations their customers want. Fortunately, we're finally seeing more companies in other segments of the dairy business paying more and more attention to marketing.

Cheers to the foods business. Three cheers to cheese and whey. They've been marketing for 30 years.

Dryer is president of J/D/G Consulting, a dairy marketing, communications and forecasting company in Chicago.

U.S. EXPORTS OF DAIRY PRODUCTS
Product                   1995    1996     1997     1998    1999
Cheese                    29.5     32.4     37.4    36.8     38.4
Whey Protein Concentrate   5.682    4.286   10.234  18.377   14.344
Dry Whey                  94.0    109.4    104.1    99.1    120.2
Modified Whey              0.727    1.368    1.805   1.084    1.384
Lactose                   54.6     74.5     82.2    75.5     80.2
2000
 46.8
 15.621
179.8
  1.976
 99.9
Products are reported in thousands of metric tons.
In other words, Cheese exports in 1995 totaled
29,500 metric tons.