Milk & dairy: Overview
How one perishable liquid becomes dozens of tradable goods
What this tab covers What the commodity is used for, why, in what volumes and with what alternatives, and its chain from mine or field to end user. Also the latest price moves, top recent news, three things to know, and buttons into each tab.Key uses
| Use | Share | Annual volume | Why this commodity | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid milk for drinking (packaged and loose) | 28.3% | about 198 Mt a yearbasis | Fresh milk is a cheap, complete source of protein, fat and calcium and needs only pasteurising and chilling. In India 42% of milk goes to fluid use (93.0 of 221.4 Mt in 2026), sold through co-operative and private dairies or directly by farmers. USDA PSD (Oct 2026) | Plant-based drinks (soy, oat, almond) Reconstituted milk powder |
| Cheese | n/a | about 23.5 Mt of cheesebasis | Cheese turns perishable milk into a storable, high-value product. It dominates milk use in the EU (11.1 Mt) and the US (6.8 Mt). It is a minor product in India, where FAOSTAT records only about 21,000 t in 2023. USDA PSD (Oct 2026); FAOSTAT 2023 | Paneer and fresh curds Plant-based cheese analogues |
| Butter and ghee | n/a | about 12.8 Mt of butter and gheebasis | Butter and ghee store milk fat for months. India makes 58% of the world total (7.4 Mt in 2026), mostly as ghee for cooking and sweets, and consumes nearly all of it. New Zealand and the EU make butter for export. USDA PSD (Oct 2026) | Vegetable oils and vanaspati Margarine |
| Milk powders (skim and whole) for food manufacturing and recombining | n/a | about 9.3 Mt of powderbasis | Drying removes water so milk can be shipped across oceans and stored for a year or more. Powders feed bakery, confectionery, infant formula and recombined milk in importing countries such as China, Algeria, Mexico and Indonesia. Indian dairies also dry surplus flush-season milk into skim milk powder. USDA PSD (Oct 2026) | Fresh milk where available Whey and plant proteins in some recipes |
| Yogurt, curd, paneer, ice cream, whey and infant formula | n/a | n/a basis | Fermented and fresh products are where dairies earn most of their margin. Whey, once a waste stream from cheese, is now sold as protein powder and in infant formula. | Plant-based yogurts and frozen desserts Soy and pea protein |
From field to user
- Herds The world had 848 million milk animals in 2024, including 161 million in India (FAOSTAT).
- Milking Average cow yields range from 10,961 kg a year in the US to 4,682 kg in New Zealand and 2,021 kg in India; Indian buffaloes average 2,123 kg (FAOSTAT 2024).
- Collection and chilling In India, village co-operative societies test, weigh and pay for milk twice a day and send it to chilling centres; Amul collects about 31 million litres a day from 3.6 million farmers (FY2026).
- Processing Dairies pasteurise and pack liquid milk or make cheese, butter, ghee, powders, yogurt and ice cream.
- Trade Only a small share of milk crosses borders, mostly as powders, butter and cheese; milk powder exports were worth $20.2 billion and cheese exports $43.8 billion in 2024 (UN Comtrade).
- Retail and food manufacturing Products reach consumers through shops and doorstep delivery, and powders go to food and infant-formula makers.
Price movement snapshot 2026-10-25
CME Class III milk futures 17.9 US$/hundredweight Close 2026-10-23 · Yahoo Finance 1 week +16.9% 6 months +5.9% World production 797.3 m tonnes, 2024 Largest producer India 16.93% of worldThree things to know
- World cow milk output rose from 479 to 797 million tonnes between 1990 and 2024 (FAOSTAT).
- India produced 16.9% of the world's cow milk in 2024, the largest share of any country (FAOSTAT).
- The New York Mercantile Exchange began as a butter and cheese exchange (Yergin, pdf p. 1248).
Top recent news snapshot 2026-10-25, last 30 days
- Horatti urges Karnataka govt. to reconsider proposed hike in milk prices, bus faresThe Hindu · 2026-10-07
- 11 milk unions in Karnataka record profit, five report losses amid demand to rise Nandini milk pricesThe New Indian Express · 2026-09-28
- Karnataka Cabinet approves Rs 8 per litre hike in Nandini milk prices; CM to take final callMoneycontrol.com · 2026-10-06
- Milk price hike after cabinet discussion, says CM ShivakumarThe New Indian Express · 2026-09-27
- Milk prices on the boil: Shell out Rs 65/litre from Oct 1The Times of India · 2026-10-01