EU milk deliveries have powered ahead a year on from the abolishment of quotas, with the latest Milk Market Observatory (MMO) milk deliveries map showing that Irish production is well ahead of other EU Member States.
For the period, January to February 2016, overall milk deliveries in EU Member States increased by 7.4% on the corresponding period in 2015.
However, the stand out country on the map below is Ireland, where milk deliveries for January to February this year were up 35.6% on the corresponding period in last year.
The MMO data shows that Luxembourg has posted the next highest increase in production (+23.2%) followed by Belgium (+20.6%) and the Netherlands (+18.5%).
In the UK, milk deliveries have increased by 3.6% in January to February this year compared to the same period last year.
In 2016, the European Commission forecasts that EU deliveries could grow by around 2m tonnes.
While limited growth is expected in France, where cooperatives and dairy companies limit incentives for farmers to expand production, significant increases are expected in Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Higher deliveries could also take place in the UK, while only a limited expansion is expected in Germany.
Contrary to this trend, the Commission says that the eastern part of the EU could experience a stabilisation of deliveries, especially in view of herd developments in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Baltic countries.