Dairy Groups Raise Complaints

A coalition of 17 American dairy organizations, farmers and milk processors have written governors in 25 states asking them to press Canada into halting a new dairy pricing strategy set to go into effect on Feb 1. The groups point to Canadian provincial policies for ingredient class milk prices that the groups state are displacing U.S. exports to Canada. Essentially, Canadian provinces created a new class of milk ingredients that was done largely as a strategy to reduce similar milk products from the U.S. The policy "is conservatively estimated at $150 million worth of ultra-filtered milk exports being lost by companies in Wisconsin and New York, which are highly reliant on their trade with Canada," Beginning Feb. 1, Canada will expand the different dairy products under the provincial rules and take the program national. Canadian dairy groups argue the new national ingredient strategy was needed to ensure the country's supply management system responds to changes in the market. The U.S. dairy groups argue Canada's new policy will "disrupt skim powder milk markets around the world by using the new program to dump excess milk powder on global markets." In writing 25 governors, the U.S. dairy groups and companies asked officials to "consider all tools at their disposal to ensure Canada understands the seriousness of the issue."