Domestic milk intake by milk processors and co-ops across the country was estimated at 980.7 million litres in July 2024, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
This marks a decrease of 34 million litres or 3.3% when compared with July 2023 and down 42.1 million litres or 4.1% on the same month in 2022.
The data published today (Friday, September 6) shows that fat content for July 2024 was 4.09%, down from 4.14% in July 2023.
While protein content went up marginally from 3.47% to 3.50% in the 12 months to July 2024.
CSO
The CSO said that butter production dropped from 31,800t in July 2023 to 29,300t in July 2024, a decrease of 2,500t.
The amount of total milk sold for human consumption was down marginally by 0.9 million litres, from 42.3 million litres in July 2023 to 41.4 million litres in July 2024.
Provisional data shows that 14,500t of skimmed milk powder (SMP) was produced in July, which is down from 20,100t in the same month last year.
For the period January to July 2024, domestic milk intake was estimated at 5.33 billion litres.
This is a decline of 279.8 million litres or 5% when compared with the same period in 2023, and down by 330.2 million litres or almost 6% when compared with January to July 2022.
Dairy
In other dairy news, the Ornua monthly Purchase Price Index (PPI) for the month of August stands at 144.7, having increased from the previous month at 140.8.
The latest PPI implies an indicative return of 42.5c/L, inclusive of VAT, for milk at 3.6% fat and 3.3% protein which is net of Ornua’s costs to market.
This represents an increase of 1.4c/L from the previous month of 41.1c/L. Ornua said this result reflects increased market returns throughout the month of August.
In addition, the Ornua Value Payment payable to member co-operatives in the month of August is €7 million, which equated to 3.9% of gross purchases in the month.
Ornua’s estimate of member co-operatives’ processing costs was 9.0c/L last month. This figure has remained the same from the previous month.