New statistics show domestic milk intake fell in the period January to August of this year by 21.8 million litres compared to the same period in 2021.
According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) domestic milk intake was estimated at 6,586 million litres from January to August 2022.
The latest CSO statistics also highlight that domestic milk intake was estimated at 925.6 million litres for August 2022.
This is in contrast to CSO statistics last month which showed 1.027 billion litres of milk were taken in during the month of July this year, which represents a 1% increase on the figure for the same month in 2021.
Dr Grzegorz Głaczyński, statistician in the agriculture section of the CSO, said:
“The figures show an increase in domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers of 0.9% in August 2022, when compared with the same month in 2021.
Domestic milk intake decreased during the period January to August 2022 (-0.3%), compared with the same period in 2021.”
Milk commodity production
The CSO milk statistics also provide a break down of the milk’s constituents including fat content, skim milk powder and butter production.
The latest figures show that fat content increased from 4.19% in August 2021 to 4.21% in August 2022.
But protein content decreased from 3.54% to 3.53% over the same period.
Meanwhile skim milk powder increased by 6.2% from 16,400 tonnes in August 2021 to 17,400 tonnes in August 2022.
Butter production increased marginally from 28,800 tonnes in August 2021 to 28,900 tonnes in August 2022.
The latest CSO figures do not include statistics for cheese production in August of this year.
Meanwhile the The latest Milk Price Tracker – brought to you by Agriland and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) – shows milk prices have stalled in August after 11 months.