Coronavirus Causing Over Surplus of Milk, Financial Hardship on Dairy Industry

Members of Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc., as well as dairy producers and others in the food supply chain have been greatly impacted by the Coronovirus, putting the nation’s dairy farmers and milk processors business’ in great financial jeopardy.

The Association is seeking the government’s assistance at the state and federal levels to ensure the stability of the dairy industry through the COVID-19 pandemic and ease the economic burden that is being placed on the industry.

With schools, restaurants and other food services closed or greatly scaled back during this time, it has resulted in the cancellation of dairy product orders on items such as milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. Additionally, the cancellation of orders at unprecedented levels, has led to processors and producers having to dump loads of raw milk, and in turn reduced the amount of milk being purchased from dairy producers. While there is a lack of orders, dumping of raw milk will continue to increase, costing producers and processors thousands of dollars in wasted milk. One load of dumped milk is approximately $10,000 to the producer, and an equal amount is accrued by the processor and the distributors. Dairy farmers and processors are having to dump hundreds of loads of milk, and are bracing to continue dumping milk as uncertainty continues.

“While at the onset of the Coronavirus hitting the United States, milk sales were strong as consumers were panic buying,” said Michael Suever, President of the Board of Directors for Northeast Dairy Foods Association. “However, as we have progressed the past couple of weeks, and schools and other food services have cancelled orders and the dynamics of the situation and economy continue to change, areas are seeing an excess amount of milk, which unfortunately has no other option but to be dumped. The industry needs assistance in order to survive this pandemic.”

The decline of foodservice dairy sales due to restaurant closures has not been offset by an increase in retail supermarket sales. The net decline in dairy sales is estimated to be in excess of 10%, and milk will continue to get dumped given these unfortunate realities. The Dairy industry is in immediate need of support.

Processors, manufacturers, as well as dairy producers, are deemed essential services, and continue to work and make safe, high quality food and beverages and maintain the food supply chain. The loss of contracts and sales will have a massive negative financial impact on these companies and dairy farmers, and potentially cause irreparable economic and financial damage, with implications such as laying off employees or going out of business. Northeast Dairy Foods Association has submitted letters to various state and federal representatives expressing the severity of the current over surplus of milk in the market place and the ramifications it has on the dairy industry, and requesting public funding to keep the industry stable.

Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc. is a full-service dairy trade organization representing dairy processors, manufacturers and distributors in the northeast with members in; Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, and include all four federal class products.