Dutch milk production for January 2019 stood at just over 1.1bn litres, which is down more than 5% on the same month last year. In December, Dutch milk production fell 6%, while it was down 7% for November and down 6% for October.

US cattle numbers are at their highest level in a decade, according to the USDA. The latest cattle inventory published by the USDA shows there were 94.8m head of cattle in the US on 1 January 2019, up from the 94.3m head of cattle last year.

Argentina exported its first shipment of beef in 17 years to the US this week. A container of 12.5t of steak cuts of Argentinian beef arrived in Philadelphia. Argentinian beef regained access to the US market in December last year after almost two decades locked out.

Milk collections from New Zealand dairy farms in January stood at 2.4bn litres, which is up almost 8% on the previous year. For the first eight months of the 2018/19 milking season (Jun-Jan), New Zealand milk production stood at a cumulative 15.5bn litres, almost 5% ahead of last year.