Australia: Dairy and Products Annual

Milk production in 2022 in Australia is forecast to increase moderately to 9.1 million metric tons (MMT) after a falling in 2021 to an estimated 9.0 MMT, a one percent decline from 2020. The shortage of labor influenced by COVID-19 lockdowns in the major dairy farming states and Australia’s international border closure, led to some dairy farms partially or fully transitioning to less labor-intensive beef cattle production. This had a negative impact on milk production in 2021 and is also expected to limit the growth in milk production for 2022. Despite lower milk production in 2021, insatiable demand for dairy products by China has driven a strong growth in exports of milk and all of the dairy manufactured product segments.