The Trump Administration was called on this week to “correct the inequity in cheese sales opportunities between the U.S. and the European Union, given the EU’s anti-trade practice of abusing geographical indications policies to monopolize generic cheese names as a means to shut out competition.”

That was the message in a letter from the chairman of the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN) Errico Auricchio, President and Founder of Belgioioso Cheese in Green Bay, Wis.

“The U.S. is an extremely profitable dairy market for the EU; we must leverage that power in correcting this deeply frustrating inequity,” Auricchio wrote. “I urge you to utilize all available tools to remedy this situation. Let us at least consider imposing the same restriction on them they do on us: require that they not sell cheeses by these names into our market, as long as we are locked out of theirs.”

The U.S. is Europe’s number one export market for cheese but the EU restricts competition from the U.S. in many cheese categories, contributing to a massive $1.6 billion U.S.-EU dairy trade deficit, the letter states.

And, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) was called upon to “slap tariffs on dairy shipments from Europe in response to the $11 billion in damage EU Airbus subsidies caused the U.S.,” according to the National Milk Producers Federation President Jim Mulhern, in testimony before a USTR panel this week

A NMPF press release stated that “The World Trade Organization recently found that Europe’s large civil aircraft subsidies were against international trade rules and permitted the United States to levy duties on EU products until Europe comes into compliance.”

“We have a unique opportunity to make a big dent in the dairy market access gap with Europe. Including EU cheeses, yogurt, and butter on this list, as USTR has proposed, is entirely warranted, and we would encourage you to add additional EU dairy-related tariff lines,” Mulhern said. Doing so “would bring increased attention to the gross inequities that define our dairy trading relationship.”

As I reported last week the Agriculture Department lowered its 2019 milk production estimate for the sixth time in the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, blaming declining milk cow inventories and slow growth in milk per cow.

2019 production and marketings are now estimated at 218.7 and 217.7 billion pounds respectively, down 800 million pounds on production from last month’s estimate and 900 million pounds lower on marketings. If realized, 2019 production would be up just 1.1 billion pounds or 0.5 percent from 2018.

The report provided the first preview of what is expected for 2020, projecting milk output to hit 222.7 billion pounds, which would be up 4 billion pounds from 2019. Dairy herds are expected to expand as producers respond to higher milk prices and lower feed costs, according to the WASDE. Milk per cow is expected to continue increasing, plus the forecast reflects the one extra day due to leap year.

Cheese, butter, and nonfat dry milk (NDM) prices were forecast higher than the previous year on robust demand expectations. However, the whey price forecast was slightly lower on continued softness in export demand.

The Class III milk price is forecast to increase as stronger cheese prices more than offset the weaker than expected whey price. Look for a 2019 average at around $16.05 per hundredweight, up 70 cents from last month’s estimate and compares to $14.61 in 2018 and $16.17 in 2017. The 2020 average is projected at $16.55.

The Class IV price is expected to increase due to higher NDM and butter prices. It’s projected at $16.20, up 15 cents from last month’s projection, and compares to $14.23 in 2018 and $15.16 in 2017. The 2020 projection is at $16.80.

Woes continue in U.S. fluid milk sales. The latest data reports 3.9 billion pounds of packaged fluid sales in March, down 4.7 percent from March 2018. Conventional product sales totaled 3.7 billion pounds, down 4.5 percent. Organic products, at 202 million, were down 8.1 percent and represented 5.2 percent of total sales for the month.

Whole milk sales hit 1.2 billion pounds, down 3.6 percent from a year ago and made up 31.8 percent of total fluid sales in the month. Sales for the three month period totaled 28.8 billion, virtually unchanged from a year ago. Skim milk sales, at 294 million pounds, were down 11.6 percent and made up just 7.5 percent of total milk sales.

Total packaged fluid milk sales for the three month period totaled 11.8 billion pounds, down 2.4 percent from a year ago. Conventional products year-to-date totaled 11.1 billion pounds, down 2.2 percent. Organic products, at 631 million pounds, were down 4.5 percent and represented about 5.4 percent of total fluid milk sales for the period.

The continued falling fluid milk sales report comes as June Dairy Month approaches and prompted a discussion about it with Hoards Dairyman managing editor Corey Geiger in the May 20 Dairy Radio Now broadcast.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Lee Mielke may write to him in care of this publication.