Wood: Loss Of China Costly For Washington Dairy Now and Into The Future

As the trade war with China continues, concern mounts what it could mean for American producers in the long run.  For the Dairy industry, China is a big market.  In 2018, American suppliers shipped nearly three million tons of milk powders, cheese, butterfat and whey products to China.  For Washington diaries, China accounted for $25 million in sales in 2017.

Dan Wood Executive Director of the Washington state Dairy Federation said the loss of China hurts Washingtonians now, and will continue to hurt well into the future.

“When tariffs are on, then it makes it a lot easier for our Chinese customers to go buy their dairy products somewhere else. And if you have your customers shopping somewhere else, and buying somewhere else for a period of time, they might get accustomed to that and hard to win back.”

Wood said that reality makes it even more important that these trade talks gets resolved quickly and correctly.

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