2020 Salute to Dairy

THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2020 CELEBRATING OUR LOCAL DAIRY INDUSTRY | 3
ECONOMY
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
ceiling considering the issues
we have in the economy,”
she stated.
AcMoody acknowledged,
though, that while she is
“cautiously optimistic”
about the remainder of 2020
a number of unknowns remain.
“If there is another lockdown
in the fall, we could
see the same thing again,”
she said of the pandemic
impact on the dairy industry.
AcMoody said that the
pandemic-related drop in
milk prices could be attributed
primarily to widespread
restaurant closures.
About 50 percent of the
domestic cheese demand
and 45 percent of demand
for butter is generated by
the food service sector, Ac-
Moody told Mattos Newspapers.
“The product to restaurants
no longer had a place
to go,” she explained. “Retail
sales increased, but
not enough to make up for
the loss of restaurants.
Some commodities (such
as cheese) are more dependent
on food service than
retail.”
On the production side,
AcMoody said, plants are
tailored for very specific
products and were unable
to quickly pivot to another
product to meet shifting
demand.
The pizza industry was
the exception to the COV-
ID-19 restaurant impacts,
she noted.
“They were already set
up for delivery and takeout,”
AcMoody said. “Some
pizza chains recorded their
highest sales month in history.”
That was to the benefit of
California producers, she
noted, because the state
is the largest producer of
mozzarella cheese.
AcMoody said that prices
to producers in the $17-$18
range is roughly a tipping
point for producers.
“They can make it at that
level. It is more sustainable,”
she commented. “If
you go under that for a long
period of time you are going
to have some people
with problems.”
Commodity prices for
feed supplies needed by
dairy producers also trended
downward when the pandemic
hit, AcMoody pointed
out.
“I haven’t heard that they
are going back up like the
milk prices are,” she said.
“We could get a little bit of
a break there.”
Early on, AcMoody said,
2020 was looking like a
strong year for dairy producers.
Prices had reached nearly
$20 per hundredweight
at year’s end - the highest
level since a record-setting
2014 when milk prices
topped $22.
“It was pretty slow
growth, but it progressively
kept improving until the
end of 2019. If softened a
little bit in early 2020, but
it was still a good start to
the year that stemmed from
the improvement (in 2019),”
AcMoody said. “Things
were going as they were
expected to go.....and then
they didn’t.”
A salute
to dairy
farmers
During dairy month,
we salute our local dairy farmers and
pledge our support to this upstanding
industry. Keep up the good work!
ACME ELECTRIC CO.
“Let us check your shorts”
Buster Lucas, Owner
1025 S. KILROY, TURLOCK 667-2851
Proudly Part of the West Side Dairy Industry
saluting dairy families
Mello Trucking, Inc.
209.988.8178
Manuel Canga, M.D.
general & Family Medicine
1248 Main Street, Suite D • Newman