World: Rabobank predicts better year for dairy farmers

Dairy farmers in most of the top global producing countries could see a return to profitability as higher farmgate milk prices, lower input costs and increased dairy commodity prices are predicted to materialize over the course of 2024 and early 2025, according to Rabobank. Milk supply in the Big 7 – comprising the EU, the US, China, Brazil, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia – is tipped to turn positive in the second half of 2024, though the bank warns that production expansion ‘will take time’. Even in South America, where Brazilians dairy farmers have grappled with unseasonably dry and warm weather and the tightest production margins in years, and Argentina’s sector has struggled to reverse the milk production declines, there are signs of positivity. In Brazil, Rabobank predicts improved margins as the year progresses, a growing consumer demand for dairy and favorable costs of production with lower feed costs. Production is set to rise 0.5% above 2023 levels according to the ...