Domestic milk intake by Irish creameries and pasteurisers was estimated at 918.0m litres for May 2016, according to the latest figures on milk production from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
This is a 4.9% increase in volumes above the corresponding figure for milk production for May 2015.
By comparing the May 2016 milk production figures with those for May 2015, total milk sold for human consumption increased by 4.0% to 45.6m litres.
Butter production was up 10.5% on May 2015 to 25,100t, the figures also show.
The latest figures from the CSO also show that from January to May this year, milk intake by the processors stood at 2,715.2 billion litres.
Compared to January to May last year, this is an increase of 11.1%.
Skimmed milk powder (SMP) production also increased on May 2015 levels, from 16,600t to 20,500t.
EU milk production growth starting to slow down
Meanwhile, figures released last week show that milk production in the EU-28 for April stood at 437m litres of milk per day in the month.
Analysing the figures, the UK-based AHDB says this was 5m litres per day more than April last year, although that only equates to a year-on-year increase of 1.1%. Between October 2015 and March 2016, the EU-28 was running 5% up on the previous year.
Breaking the data down by country shows that milk production continued to increase in Germany and Netherlands, but fell in the UK, France and Ireland.
Total EU milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers in the 12-month period after the end of the quota regime was almost 150,000m litres. This represents a 4.5% increase when compared with the 12-month period immediately preceding the end of the regime.
The 10 EU Member States with the largest milk intake accounted for almost 86% of total EU milk intake. Ireland had the largest percentage increase in milk intake (18.5%) whereas Italy’s milk intake decreased by 2.2%.