Overquota milk is subject to a heavy penalty, thus very little is marketed. The Japanese dairy industry is about a tenth of the size of the U.S. industry. As with many of its commodities, the Japanese dairy market is one of the most protected in the world. The Japanese Livestock Industry Promotion Corporation directly controls imports and is involved in the procurement, storage, marketing and trade of products. The disparity between domestic Japanese dairy prices and world prices has widened in recent years.
Dairy farmers receive a deficiency payment for manufactured milk as well.
In recent years, a measure of the relative amount of protection afforded producers of various commodities in different countries has been developed. The PSE attempts to measure the difference between supported prices and what prices would be in the absence of various supports. There is considerable argument about the interpretation of the absolute values of the PSE measure. Nonetheless, the measure is useful in ranking countries by degree of support. As an example, for the U.S. the measure includes FmHA loans to dairy farmers, tax breaks, state milk control, and even taxpayer costs of extension and research program on behalf of milk producers.