Imports of whole milk powder to Ireland jumped by 105% in 2014, to 32,849t, according to figures from Europe and in 2014 imported over 32,000t of whole milk powder from the UK in 2014.
The figures also show that imports of whey powder to Ireland jumped by 52% to 32,543t in 2014.
Butter
The figures which show the intra European movements of dairy produce show that while Ireland exported 108,794t of butter, this figure was down 15% of the 2013 total of Irish butter exports and and below the 116,000t figure for 2012.
The figures also show that while Ireland is a significant exporter of butter, it also imported 5,000t of butter in 2014.
Ireland’s main destinations for butter are the UK (34,911t), Germany (34,528) and France (15,864). The vast majority (3,179t) of butter Ireland imported was from France.
Cheese
Irish cheese exports dropped in 2014, according to the figures, down to 158,584t (down 7%), while we imported almost 60,000t of cheese, mainly from the UK (33,000t).
When it comes to exporting cheese within the EU, Ireland send most of its cheese for export to the UK (115,000t).
SMP
Irish imports of skimmed milk powder were up 18% in 2014. Of the 41,800t of SMP the UK exported last year, Ireland was the main market for it. Ireland also exported 13,800t of SMP to various countries, including the UK which imported 5,550t of it and the Netherlands and Germany which each took 2,779t and 3,998t.
Irish exports of SMP were also down, by 9% to 21,344, while our imports jumped to 21,046t. Our main markets for SMP in Europe are the UK and the Netherlands, while we import 8,900t of SMP from the UK and 7,080t from Germany.