Wisconsin Ag Connection - Wisconsin, U.S. Cheese Output Rose in December

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Wisconsin, U.S. Cheese Output Rose in December
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 02/05/2016

Wisconsin's dairy plants are still producing more cheese products than they did a year ago. The latest dairy product summary from the USDA notes that the state churned out 264.6 million pounds of cheese in December, which was up 3.5 percent from a year earlier and five percent more than this past November. This marks the 15th consecutive month that monthly production exceeded year-to-year levels.

Nationally, 1.02 billion pounds of cheese was produced in the United States. That was 1.2 percent more than the same month last year, and 2.8 percent over the previous month's production totals (which also had less days on the calendar).

Wisconsin's production of American cheese increased as the state produced 78.2 million pounds, about 1.9 percent more than last year, and 9.3 percent above last month's production. Cheddar output rose by 2.4 percent compared to 2014 to total 52.8 million pounds, and was up 6.5 percent from the month earlier. Italian cheese was at 133 million pounds, about 3.8 percent above last year, and five percent higher for the month. And Mozzarella produced in Wisconsin totaled 90.2 million pounds--about four percent more than December 2014, and up 4.4 percent compared to Novmber 2015.

Dry Whey output in Wisconsin was recorded at 26.5 million pounds, which was up 10.6 percent from last year, and 2.5 percent more than last month.

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