Who are the world’s big dairy importers?

By Kat Jack

It’s a new year, the EU exit transition period is over, and the UK is keen to trade. So, what’s the lay of the export land for dairy? Here’s a quick look at the highlights for global imports of the key dairy commodities – milk powders, butter, and cheese*, according to statistics from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). 

Mainland China was the world’s largest dairy importer in 2019, buying 1.19 million tonnes of these key products. Mainland China’s imports grew rapidly in the early 2010s before dropping off between 2014 and 2015 – but they have been rising steadily since then. Imports in 2019 exceeded the previous peak of 1.04 m tonnes in 2014. The UK does have a foothold in China, but its contribution to China’s powder and butter imports is a tiny share of the total. The UK did account for 12% of China’s processed cheese imports; this is a much smaller market than the others, but is a higher value product than milk powders.

After China, the next highest overall importers in 2019 were all EU countries – Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Belgium (with the UK placing between France and Belgium). These countries’ imports all grew between 2014 and 2019, with the Netherlands setting the fastest pace. In these countries, butter and cheese are more frequently imported than milk powders, and the majority will be imported from other EU countries. The EU is also the UK’s main export destination. With a tariff-free trade deal now agreed, this trade is less likely to be disrupted, although the increased trade friction and bureaucracy could still have an impact.

Further afield, there are many growing markets for dairy products. Mexico, Indonesia and the Philippines are large SMP markets with strong growth. Algeria, the UAE and Saudi Arabia import large amounts of WMP – though have a more modest overall growth rate as their demand can fluctuate. There’s also lots of smaller but rapidly growing importers – for example Malaysia and Japan have seen rapid growth in butter and cheese imports over the last 5 years. The UK is active in some of these markets, although its focus tends to be on the higher value products of butter and cheese, and less in milk powders.

It will be a few months before complete 2020 data is available for any country, but we do know that the pandemic had an impact on trade. These impacts will likely follow the virus into 2021, but the development of vaccines puts a more optimistic outlook on the longer term.

*FAO categories “cheese, processed” and “cheese, whole cow milk”

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