State Cheese Production Climbs for Second Straight Month

Saturday, April 3rd, 2021 -- 7:05 AM

Wisconsin cheese plants made slightly more product during February when compared to the same month a year earlier--making it only the second time in the past seven months that year-to-year output rose. According to the latest dairy product summary from the USDA, the state produced 263 million pounds of cheese in February. That was 0.7 percent more than last year, but down 7.3 percent lower than this past January (which had more days on the calendar).

Nationally, about 1.04 billion pounds of cheese was produced in the United States in February. That was a 1.1 percent increase from 2020, but a 8.1 percent drop compared to the amount manufactured during the previous month.

Wisconsin's production of American cheese increased as the state produced 85.4 million pounds, about 6.2 percent more than last year, but 8.5 percent below last month's production. Cheddar output also rose 4.6 percent compared to 2020 to total 58.5 million pounds, but went down 10.5 percent from the month earlier. Italian cheese production was at 126.3 million pounds, about 4.3 percent below last year, and 6.7 percent lower for the month. And Mozzarella produced in Wisconsin totaled 83.4 million pounds--down 2.7 percent from February 2020 and 3.0 percent less than January 2021.

Dry Whey output in Wisconsin was recorded at 27.2 million pounds, which was up 17.3 percent from last year, but 2.2 percent lower compared to last month. (Wisconsin Ag Connection)

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