The European Commission has confirmed January milk production in the EU down 0.7%, with Ireland down 4.1%, the Netherlands down 2.7% and Germany and France both down 2.2% from last year.
A total 12 member states posted year-on-year increases, including Poland (+2.7%) and Spain (+1.8 %). Manufacture of most dairy products was also down, with January production of butter down 9.4%, SMP down 13.7%, WMP down 3.0%, fermented milk down 1.5%, cheese down 0.3% and concentrated milk down 6.4%. The only increase was for cream (+3.6%).
Some 4% of total milk raw milk collected was organic (based on reports from 21 member states), with Austria as usual producing the highest proportion (18.8%)—and also registering a 5.2% increase in total milk production—followed by Sweden (17.2%) and Denmark (13.0%).
