Argentine beef exports for March stood at just over 26,800t, a more than 50% increase compared with the same month last year. China remains the country’s biggest export market, accounting for almost half of shipments.

The weak sterling boosted cheese exports from the UK in 2017. Figures released by UK customs show cheese exports stood at 170,000t, a 5% increase year on year. Cheddar accounts for the majority of exports, but mozzarella and fresh cheeses saw strong export growth.

The US Department of Agriculture has forecast global beef production will rise by 2% in 2018 to 63m tonnes of carcase weight equivalent. Global beef export trade in 2018 is forecast to increase by 5% to 10.5m tonnes, driven by demand from Asian markets.

New Zealand milk production for the month of March stood at just over 1.8bn litres, which is 1.5% lower than the same month last year. This brings New Zealand milk production for the first 10 months of the 2017/18 milking season (June to March) to 18.4bn litres.