Germany was the biggest producer of “drinking milk” in the EU last year, while Ireland was the third largest producer of butter, according to a new Eurostat report published today (Monday, November 20).
The statistical office estimated that 160 million tonnes of raw milk was produced by farms in the EU in 2022 – which represented a year-on-year fall of 300,000t.
“The average apparent milk yield per cow in the EU reached 7,653 kg in 2022,” Eurostat detailed.
It also found that yields were above the EU average in the Netherlands and Germany, but slightly below average in France, Poland and Italy.
The latest statistics show that the vast majority of the raw milk produced in the EU last year – 149.9 million tonnes – was delivered to dairies, who in turn produced 22.5 million tonnes of drinking milk.
Out of the 149.9 million tonnes of milk delivered to dairies, 145.6 million tonnes was cows’ milk, with the rest being ewes’ milk, goats’ milk or buffalos’ milk
Germany produced 19% of the total EU drinking milk, while Spain produced 15%, France 13%, Italy 11% and Poland 9% in 2022.
According to Eurostat there was a “strong and steady” rise in the milk price paid to farmers through 2022 with the average price over the year being 35.1 % higher than the average in 2021.
The statistical office highlighted that there were “even stronger than average rises” in milk price in 2022 in the Netherlands where it rose by 47.0 %, in Poland where it was up by 46.9 %, in Ireland where it rose by 44.9 % and in Germany where it was up by 44.8 %.
The latest statistics also show that together the production of cheese and butter used 70% of all the whole milk available to dairies in the EU last year.
There was also 3 million tonnes of dairy powder products produced in the EU from 20.7 million tonnes of skimmed milk and 4.1 million tonnes of whole milk during 2022.
