Browse Data and Analysis

South Africa’s dairy industry is likely to grow in the future due to improving economic factors, despite suffering from many weather and disease related challenges in the past five years. This growth may provide opportunities for dairy genetics exporters.

Kenya's dairy sector is one of the most advanced in East Africa, and the second largest in Africa in terms of herd size. The industry remains an important part of the Kenyan agricultural economy, contributing 17 percent to agricultural GDP and 3.8 percent of the total national GDP. The sector is still largely informal, with only 15 percent of total milk processed in 2023.

The Kenyan dairy and beef sectors are important drivers of the country’s economic growth, yet both sectors are unable to meet domestic demand. The challenges facing Kenya’s dairy and beef sectors present opportunities for U.S. technical capacity building in research, knowledge, and technology transfer.

While the United States holds a 5-year average of less than 1 percent market share ($20.7 million in 2023 exports), Senegal has a growing food manufacturing industry that seeks cost-competitive ingredients and is expanding its exports to neighboring countries.

On March 14, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) officially noted the lifting of restrictions on sourcing foreign exchange to import dairy products. Previously, only six designated companies could source foreign exchange from the government to import dairy products.

Estimated at a Retail Sale Price (RSP) value of about $350 million in 2021, Ghana’s dairy market presents bright prospects for suppliers of fat filled milk powder (FFMP) despite the recent growth in demand for non-dairy creamers due to their health and wellness tag.