The domestic milk intake for creameries and pasteurisers for the month of July was 4.4% higher than the same month for 2019, according to the latest milk statistics from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
In July of this year, 984.7 million litres of milk were taken in, compared to 943.2 million litres in July 2019.
Taking the first seven months of the year as a whole (January 2020 to July 2020), approximately 5.4 billion litres were taken in for that period, compared to around 5.2 billion litres in the same period of 2019, for an upwards change of 3.8%.
The average fat content for milk taken in for July 2020 was 4.02%, an increase on the 3.96% average fat content for milk in July 2019.
Meanwhile, the figure for protein content in July 2020 was 3.5%, a slight increase on the 3.46% figure for July 2019.
Total milk sold for human consumption (not including imported packaged milk) last month stood at 46.9 million litres, and increase on the July 2019 figure of 44.7 million litres.
Of this, whole milk accounted for 31.3 million litres (29.1 million litres in July 2019), while skimmed and semi-skimmed milk accounted for 15.5 million litres (a slight decrease on the July 2019 figure of 15.7 million litres).
Dairy farmers called on to donate milk
In other dairy-related news, TD Jackie Cahill is appealing to Irish dairy farmers to donate one day’s milk to famine relief efforts in Yemen.
The Tipperary TD has issued his appeal after hearing Mike McGann, a dairy farmer from Co. Longford, who spoke on CountryWide (RTÉ Radio 1) this weekend about how he’s trying to help people in the Asian country as they continue to live during a famine alongside the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I listened as Mike spoke of a parent in Yemen who is feeding his sick child water and sugar every day in a desperate attempt to keep her alive, as a result of a shocking lack of access to food supplies,” deputy Cahill said.