WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD News) — The dairy industry says exports continue holding strong heading into the summer months.
Michael Dykes, president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association, says a new industry report shows outbound dairy shipments continuing to grow across multiple global regions.
“We have tripled trade since the 2000s Weave dairy wasn’t an export product necessarily. We’re seeing growth in Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, South America, and unlike a lot of the other participants in the ag sector, we’ve not seen the disruption in trade. 2025 I think, was a record year for cheese exports. We are doing an amazing job.”
Dykes says the organization is also working to identify additional export opportunities for U.S. dairy products through a new initiative called Project Diversify.
“We’ve created a project called Project Diversify USTRS. We work with the US Trade Representative’s Office on how do we diversify our market outreach. Where are there opportunities? So we’re trying to create use data on the markets and other countries as a dashboard for our members to be able to determine where it might be another opportunity to export another dairy product, too. We’re exporting to 143 different countries.”
The International Dairy Foods Association says the project will continue expanding over time with interactive tools designed to help users explore emerging dairy markets across regions and product categories.
Shaun Haney joined RFD News to discuss the potential impact of the Trump-Xi summit uncertainty, ongoing agricultural trade talks, and why geopolitical developments could carry important implications for farmers and global commodity markets.
