Speakers at the Dairy Industry Newsletter’s annual conference, held in London on 7 May under the theme “GLOBAL DAIRY — MANAGING THROUGH CHAOS”, agreed that global demand for dairy products remains stable, with demand from Asia set to rise.

Philipp Goetz, of the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN), explained that importing countries would not be expanding their self-sufficiency and were unable to meet their own growing demand for dairy products. “If retail chains in Europe are not prepared to pay the prices we saw last year, there are other buyers around the world who will,” he said. “Asia’s rising purchasing power is not a temporary phenomenon, but will continue, and demand there will increase even further.”

Christophe Lafougère, managing director of the international consultancy Gira, expects global milk consumption to continue rising, driven primarily by demand from import markets such as South-East Asia. Lafougère: “European consumers need more cheese and want to eat more cheese, and that will remain the case in the future.”