Top Butter Exporting Countries

Dairy products are derived from the milk of cows, goats, sheep, yaks, camels, horses, and water buffaloes. A dairy factory or farm processes the milk into a variety of products. Due to its fat content, milk is often used to create a variety of culinary fats, with the most well known of these including butter, sour cream, and whipping cream. New Zealand and the Netherlands each exported more than $1 Billion USD worth of dairy fat products in 2015. Dairy products vary from country to dairy. Some good examples of these products are butter, ghee, gourmet ice cream, spray-dried milk proteins, and dairy fat spreads. New milk foods such as low fat, high calcium, and high protein milks are also being developed. Some dairies manufacture organic milk, sheep milk cheese, and feta cheese.

Top Butter Exporting Countries

The Butter Making Process

Butter is a dairy product that is eaten worldwide and also used as condiment for cooking. It is made of water, milk, and butterfat. Further processing of butter can produce clarified butter or ghee (butterfat). Modern butter production is done in five steps. Namely, the cream is first separated from the milk, and undergoes pasteurization, churning into butter, shaping of the butter, and packaging. Shipping is done in refrigerated containers or vans. Boxes should be secured for slippage. Temperature during travel must be observed. It should be flash frozen before travel. When butter reaches its destination, quality checks for rancidity, souring, tallowness, and yellowing.

Dairy Fat Product Export Values By Country

According to the International Trade Center data for 2015, the world's top butter exporting country is New Zealand with $1,629,111,000 USD worth of butter and other milk-based fat exports. Its export markets include Europe, the US, Japan, and Asian countries. Second is Netherlands with $1,032,006,000 USD worth of butter and other milk-based fat exports. Its export markets include Germany, UK, Belgium, and France. Third is Ireland with $692,218,000 USD worth of butter and other milk-based fat exports. Its export markets include the US, UK, Belgium, and Germany. Fourth is Germany with $571,347,000 USD worth of butter and other milk-based fat exports. Its export markets include the US, Netherlands, China, and France. Fifth is Belgium with $505,726,000 USD worth of butter and other milk-based fat exports. Its export markets include the UK, US, Italy, France, and Holland. Sixth is France with $449,790,000 USD worth of butter and other milk-based fat exports. Its export markets include the Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Germany. Seventh is Belarus with $258,797,000 USD worth of butter and other milk-based fat exports. Its export markets include the UK, Russia, Ukraine, Holland, and Germany. Eighth is Denmark with $212,684,000 USD worth of butter and other milk-based fat exports. Its export markets include the Sweden, Germany, and the UK. Ninth is the United Kingdom with $176,418,000 USD worth of butter and other milk-based fat exports. Its export markets include the Netherlands, China, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and France. Tenth is Poland with $131,588,000 USD worth of butter and other milk-based fat exports. Its export markets include Germany, Italy, France, UK, and Czech Republic.

Uses of Dairy Fat Products

Most dairy fat products are used in culinary cooking or for further processing such as fermented milk. Some are turned into butter, cheese, ice cream, sorbets, frozen desserts, yogurt, buttermilk, milk powder, evaporated milk, cottage cheese, whey, cream cheese, and condensed milk. Cheese also comes in many varieties such as camembert, blue, swiss, mozzarella, cheddar, edam, brined, feta, and many more varieties. Milk also comes in many varieties such as whole, full-fat, skim, low-fat, non-fat, lactose-free, high calcium, and protein.