SYDNEY - Milk production in Australia, the world's third-largest cheese exporter, fell in February to the lowest in seven months as a spreading drought reduced supplies of cattle feed.
Dairy processors, including National Foods, Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Co and Bonlac Foods, received 759.5 million litres of milk inFebruary, down 2.6 per cent from 779.7 million litres a year earlier, Melbourne-based Dairy Australia said yesterday. February production was the lowest since July.
National milk output may fall more after about two-thirds of the country received 20 per cent or less of the mean monthly rainfall in March. Declining supplies have slashed Australia's dairy exports, causing international prices for the products to surge. Australia accounts for 17 per cent of world cheese exports.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia's New Zealand Dairy Index, which tracks US-dollar export prices for cheese, butter and milk powders, reached a record high of 133.95 on February 25 and has surged 24 per cent in the past 12 months.
Milk production fell in all Australian states except Victoria in February. In Victoria, which produces about two-thirds of the country's milk, output rose 0.7 per cent to 498.3 million litres.
Drought areas extend across the continent in a band from the towns of Port Hedland and Broome in the northwest of Western Australia, to Bourke in northwestern New South Wales, the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology said yesterday.
Only New Zealand and the European Union export more cheese than Australia.
Dairy Australia is a farmer-funded research and marketing group.
