Canadian butter makes the greatest impact on the dairy products market.
Canadian requirements for the twelve-month period ending in March 2014 were 195.34 million kg BF, slightly up 0.16% from the base of February 2014.

Among the factors that favoured Canadian requirements, butter had the most impact.  According to CDC estimates, butter consumption increased by 1.2 million kg of BF in March compared to last year.  Yogurt and ice cream production also increased.  The use of butterfat in these markets increased by 15.8% and 9.9% respectively.  The further processing market also grew in March, although not by as much as in the last months.

Other markets did not perform as well.  Cheese being one of them, it has been shrinking since the beginning of the dairy year.  In March only, the use of butterfat in domestic cheese classes declined by 15%.  Two factors explain this trend: the reintroduction of stocks on the market and a weaker cheese consumption.  It is also worth noting that skim-off from the fluid milk market has increased in March.  Besides, we observe that skim-off deviates more often than before from its long-term downward trend.

Total milk deliveries decreased by 1.4% in March in comparison to the same month last year.  More specifically, fluid milk deliveries fell by 1.0% while deliveries of industrial milk decreased by 1.7%.

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