Cheese Prices Drop 30 Cents Per Pound In December

After a year of falling milk prices, Wisconsin cheesemakers are among many affected by the dairy market’s slump.

The price of cheese has already dropped 30 cents per pound since the beginning of December.

Dr. Robert Cropp, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said cheese prices are now at their lowest point, which is a hopeful sign for the dairy market.

“Cheese is the big driver of milk prices,” he said. “For the whole country, the U.S., we use now just about 50 percent of our milk for cheese and we only drink about 25 percent.”

Cropp said dramatic declines in exports to China forced U.S. dairy prices to plummet this year, but he said international demand should increase by late 2016.