US Cheese Stockpile Hits Record High of the Century

Excess cheese in the United States currently amounts to 1.4 billion pounds—the largest stockpile of cheese reported in the last 100 years. Last year, the stockpile was at 1.39 billion pounds, a six-percent increase from the prior year. There are several reasons for the growing cheese glut, including the retaliatory tariffs China, Canada, and Mexico have placed on American cheese products and a Millennial-driven shift toward plant-based alternatives. Despite consistently decreasing demand, liquid dairy producers have overproduced milk for several years, hitting a record-high stockpile of 78 million gallons in the first five months of 2017—an 86-percent increase from the previous year. While dairy producers struggle to find consumers, the plant-based cheese and milk industries are booming and are projected to be worth $4 billion and $35 billion by 2024, respectively.