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Chinese dairy demand favorable despite some weakness

A dairy economist says demand from China this past October was weaker than expected.

Nate Donnay with INTL-FCStone says while some of the slow down might be tied to increasing global prices, it also may because of a skewed product mix coming from New Zealand.

“We should have seen Chinese imports up five to ten percent, instead, Chinese imports on a milk equivalent basis were down 2.9 percent.”

He says dairy demand from Chinese consumers remains strong, but feed demand is weakening.

“Still the dry whey, permeate, and lactose were the imports that are pretty weak.”

Donnay says overall demand looks pretty good from China and an expected slowdown in supply from New Zealand, their major supplier, should provide opportunities next year.