If your phone has been ringing more than usual this month, you're not imagining it. Federal trade data released this fall shows domestic cheese exports on pace for one of the strongest years on record, with meaningful gains into a handful of overseas markets that weren't major buyers five years ago. Industry coverage this fall has been framing 2019 as a genuine turning point in a decade-long shift — the countries that used to be reliable importers are now competing as exporters too, and the demand growth that's left is increasingly coming from newer markets learning to like domestic styles. A few members told us this week that overseas buyers are placing December orders earlier than usual, trying to get ahead of holiday shipping backlogs on both ends.
That's a good problem to have, but it is still a problem if your production planning wasn't built for it.
What we're hearing from wholesale members
The gains aren't evenly spread. Larger operations with existing export relationships are seeing the clearest lift — some are reporting double-digit growth in order volume compared to this time last year. Smaller creameries selling into export markets through a distributor are seeing it too, but with more friction: longer lead times on documentation, tighter cold-chain scheduling, and less room to absorb a missed truck.
If you ship internationally, or are thinking about starting, a few practical notes from members who've been through a strong export quarter before:
- Build in documentation lag. Health certificates, customs paperwork, and any country-specific labeling requirements take longer to process when everyone else's paperwork is also moving through the same queue in December.
- Confirm your cold-chain capacity before you confirm the order. A distributor eager to move volume will sometimes ask you to compress a shipping window. It's fair to say no.
- Talk to your distributor about early cutoffs. Several members told us their distributors are setting order cutoffs a week or two earlier than last December specifically because of this export volume.
None of this is a reason to slow down — a strong export year is exactly the kind of demand signal that makes the case for capacity investment. It's a reason to plan the next five weeks with your eyes open.
Why this matters beyond this quarter
Export markets have been a meaningful piece of the growth story for specialty and artisan cheese producers for several years now, and members who've built export relationships tend to describe them as stickier than domestic wholesale accounts — once a buyer overseas commits to a shelf position for your cheese, they tend to stay unless something goes wrong with fulfillment. Which is exactly why the logistics matter more than the excitement right now.
There's a longer-term piece here too. A recurring theme in this year's trade coverage has been how much export markets have shifted over the past decade — regions that used to be pure importers have been building their own domestic production and, in some cases, exporting into markets that used to belong to established suppliers almost by default. That competition is real, and members who sell internationally should expect it to keep sharpening. But it also means the buyers still coming to domestic producers now are doing it deliberately, not by default, which tends to make for a more durable relationship once it's established.
None of that changes what matters this week: if you've got product moving overseas between now and the new year, get your paperwork moving before your distributor's cutoff, not after. A strong quarter is worth protecting.
If you're new to export and this quarter has you fielding your first serious inquiries, our Membership & Outreach Committee keeps a running list of members willing to talk through what their first export cycle looked like — mistakes included. Reach out through your member portal and we'll make an introduction.
The International Cheese Federation (ICF) and More Cheese are entirely fictional. This post is demonstration content created for MemberJunction. All people, organizations, events, courses, certifications, figures, and quotations in it are invented, and nothing here represents a real association, a real business, a real person, or real professional advice.