Domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers stood at 1,164 million litres in May 2023, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
This is a slight drop of 0.1% or 1.5 million litres when compared with the same month last year.
However, it also marks a 1.4% decrease or 16.6 million litres on the May 2021 figure, according to the new data published today (Tuesday, July 4).
“Domestic milk intake declined by 0.7% (24.6 million litres) during the period January to May 2023 (3,555.3 million litres), compared with the same period in 2022
“Fat content increased to 3.96% in May 2023 from 3.95% in May 2022, while protein content dropped to 3.40% from 3.45% over the same period,” Dr. Grzegorz Glaczynski, statistician in the agriculture section of the CSO, said.
CSO
The milk statistics show that butter production increased by 1,100t, from 32,000t in May 2022 to 33,100t in May 2023.
Skim milk powder (SMP) production fell by 6.4% from 28,300t in May 2022 to 26,400t in May 2023.
The provisional figure for the total milk sold for human consumption is 47.7 million litres, which is up from 46.4 million litres in May 2022.
Whole milk sales stood at 32.1 million litres in May 2023, up from 30.9 million litres during the same month last year.
Skimmed and semi-skimmed milk sales rose slightly from 15.5 million litres in May 2022 to 15.6 million litres this year.