Chart of the week: America’s cheese mountain

Thanks to bumper US production and cheap European imports, America is being buried under a mountain of cheese.

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This year's main food trend should be extra cheese, says Bloomberg.com's Whitney McFerron. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, US cheese inventories have climbed to1.2 billion pounds, the highest level since 1984.

US dairy production is heading for a record, while the strong dollar has hampered dairy exports, so stockpiles have risen.

At the same time, European prices are low due to a glut of milk prices are at a five-year low and a weakening euro. As a result, US imports of European cheese have been on the rise: they jumped by 17% last year.

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