# U.S. dairy farmers dump milk as pandemic upends food markets

> Mass closures of restaurants and schools shifted dairy sales abruptly from wholesale food-service channels to retail grocery stores. Dairy processors also struggled to find enough drivers because some workers feared the virus and stopped working. U.S. dairy farmers began dumping milk.

- Date: 2020-04-03 · published 2020-04-03T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: macro · region US · magnitude high
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/4154-u-s-dairy-farmers-dump-milk-as-pandemic-upends-food-markets
- Commodities: [Milk (Class III)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/MILK.md)

## Why it matters

Lost food-service demand and logistics bottlenecks leave surplus milk with no outlet, pressuring farmgate and Class III milk prices lower.

## Read by commodity

- MILK: bearish ▼

## Linked price moves

| Commodity | Date | Window | Change % | z-score | Why linked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MILK | 2020-04-06 | 5 | -14.4% | -5.9 | Shift from foodservice to retail and processing and labor disruptions created demand and logistics dislocations that weighed on milk prices. |
| MILK | 2020-04-05 | 5 | -14.4% | -6.4 | Restaurant and school closures shifted sales away from wholesale channels, and processor labor shortages and milk dumping signaled a supply-demand imbalance. |

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MILK | 2020-03-25 | [COVID-19 pandemic rocks dairy markets \| Capital Press](https://feedsoft.ai/events/54272-covid-19-pandemic-rocks-dairy-markets-capital-press.md) | -0.2% | -17.5% |
| MILK | 2018-03-22 | [Latest Dairy Market Update - Output Growth Outpaces Demand - Irish Farmers' Association](https://feedsoft.ai/events/65994-latest-dairy-market-update-output-growth-outpaces-demand-irish-farmers.md) | -0.4% | +1.6% |
| MILK | 2020-04-24 | [Idaho dairymen dump milk as demand, prices fall \| Capital Press](https://feedsoft.ai/events/6502-idaho-dairymen-dump-milk-as-demand-prices-fall-capital-press.md) | -13.8% | -7.5% |
| MILK | 2019-08-22 | [Dairy Market Report 23rd August - Irish Farmers' Association](https://feedsoft.ai/events/57577-dairy-market-report-23rd-august-irish-farmers-association.md) | -0.1% | +3.6% |
| MILK | 2020-10-26 | [Stephenson: Pandemic will weigh on dairy markets into 2021 - Progressive Dairy \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/50651-stephenson-pandemic-will-weigh-on-dairy-markets-into-2021-progressive-dairy-ag.md) | -0.2% | +7.0% |

## Sources

- reuters.com: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-dairy-insight/u-s-dairy-farmers-dump-milk-as-pandemic-upends-food-markets-idUSKBN21L1DW/
- reuters.com: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us-dairy-farmers-dump-milk-as-pandemic-upends-food-markets-idUSKBN21L1EJ/

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.