Cheese Production Up 3.5% In 2021 vs. Previous Year
U.S. cheese production in 2021, excluding cottage cheese, totaled 13.71 billion pounds, up 3.5% from 2020, according to revised annual data in the Dairy Products 2021 Summary released this week by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) (all figures are rounded).
Italian cheese varieties in 2021 totaled 5.75 billion pounds, up 2.5% from 2020 production, accounting for 42.0% of total cheese in 2020, USDA reports. Mozzarella accounted for 78.0% of the Italian production at 4.49 billion pounds, up 1.0% from 2020. Parmesan totaled 483.4 million pounds, up 15.4%. U.S. Provolone production in 2021 was 376.4 million pounds, up 2.7%. Ricotta production totaled 247.4 million pounds, down 2.0%.
American-type cheese production in 2021 totaled 5.57 billion pounds, up 4.3% from 2020 and accounting for 40.6% of total 2021 cheese production. Cheddar accounted for the most American-type production at 3.93 billion pounds, up 2.7% from 2020.
Wisconsin was the leading state for total cheese production in 2021, producing 3.47 billion pounds of cheese or 25.3% of total U.S. production. Wisconsin also was the leading producer of Italian cheeses with 28.7% of total U.S. production, and American-type cheese production with 19.4% of total U.S. production.
U.S. production of cream cheese and Neufchatel totaled 1.04 billion pounds in 2021, up 2.3% from 2020.
Hispanic cheese production increased 1.2% in 2021 to 351.5 million pounds. Feta production increased 23.1% to 169.3 million pounds.
Swiss cheese production increased 1.6% in 2021 to 330.0 million pounds. Muenster also increased 1.6% to 191.5 million pounds.
Blue and Gorgonzola production increased 21.2% to 89.2 million pounds, and Gouda production increased 25.9% to 56.2 million pounds in 2021.
U.S. butter production in 2021 totaled 2.07 billion pounds, down 3.5% from 2020. California was the leading state with 32.5% of total butter production, or 672.4 million pounds in 2021.
U.S. production of nonfat dry milk (human) in 2021 totaled 2.02 billion pounds, up 3.7% from 2020. Skim milk powder production in 2020 totaled 698.0 million pounds, up 0.4% from 2020.
U.S. dry whey production in 2021 totaled 911.5 million pounds, down 3.1% from 2020. Lactose (human and animal) production in 2021 totaled 1.15 billion pounds, up 2.8% from the previous year. Whey protein concentrate production totaled 509.0 million pounds, up 6.5% from 2020.
Total U.S. production of regular ice cream in 2021 was 871.7 million gallons, down 4.8% from 2020. Lowfat ice cream totaled 460.7 million gallons, down 0.5%, and frozen yogurt production totaled 46.4 million gallons, up 32.2% from 2020.
NASS also reports in its Milk Production, Disposition and Income 2021 Summary released this week that total milk production in 2021 increased 1.3% to 226.26 billion pounds. The highest milk-producing state was California, with 41.86 billion pounds in 2021, up 1.4% from 2020.
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Source: CMN
