Domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers increased by 3.3% for July’s supply, based on the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
1,018 million litres were processed in July, a 3.3% increase from 2020 figures when 985 million litres were processed.
Looking at the figures for the year to date, 5,691 million litres have been processed so far, an increase of 6.4% from 2020 figures when 5,347.6 million litres were taken in.
Domestic milk intake
Taking a closer look at the breakdown of some of the figures, we can see that the total milk sold for human consumption decreased from 44.7 million litres in June 2021, to 44.5 million litres in July 2021.
Examining the fat and protein figures for the month of July, we can see that average fat content was 4% – an increase from June when the figure was 3.97%.
This was a slight decrease from July 2020 figures when the average fat content was 4.04%.
Moving to protein, the average protein for milk supplied was 3.44%. This is a decrease from June when the figure was 3.47% and also a decrease from July 2020, when the figure was 3.51%.
15.1 million litres of skimmed and semi-skimmed milk were sold in July, down from 15.9 million litres in July 2020, but an increase from 15 million litres in June 2021.
Butter production fell for the first time this year, from 31,500t in June to 29,700t in July – that is a decrease of 1,800t.
Finally, moving to skimmed milk powder for the month of July, we can see a decrease for the second month in a row.
May saw 27,700t sold; this decreased to 19,700t in June and this has decreased further to 16,900t in July.
European
In June, France had the largest intake of milk to creameries and pasteurisers so far this year, with 10,658 million tonnes.
France has now been overtaken by Germany, with German dairy farmers sending 16,393 million tonnes to creameries and pasteurisers up until June 2021.
This is actually a decrease of 283 million tonnes compared to June 2020, when 16,676 million tonnes had been sent to creameries and pasteurisers.
France is second on the list with 12,696 million tonnes, followed by the Netherlands, Italy, Poland and then Ireland.
Cyprus has seen the largest increase in milk supplied up until June 2021, with a total of 154 million litres – which is a 15.1% increase on the same period in 2020, when 134 million litres were supplied for processing.