End of year milk production volumes in the EU for 2016 have been revised downwards by the European Commission.
Provisional production figures from the European Commission suggest that 2016 volumes will end 0.9% higher than in 2015.
This figure is down from the 1.4% estimated by the Commission earlier this year and it attributes dairy herd renewal together with the recent market measures adopted by the Commission to the reduced output.
The latest figures from the EU Milk Market Observatory (MMO) show that while EU production was up for the six-month period between January and June 2016 year-on-year, June milk production was down 2.03% on the corresponding month last year.
Comparing production in the first five months of the year to the first six, this is a decrease in milk production of 2.2%.
Production appears to be waning in other EU countries, however, milk production in Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands has continued to increase – albeit at a slower pace than this time last year.
While figures for July are not yet available, it is expected that there will be another year-on-year decrease in production.
Irish milk production continues to increase
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that Irish processors took in approximately 856.2m litres in June 2016, which was 4.5% above the corresponding 2015 figure.
The figures show that while the amount of milk sold for human consumption increased by 3.4% to 43.2m litres, butter production was down 8.7% to 21,100t, after being up in May by 10.5%.
The June figures are back somewhat on supplies taken in May, which were estimated at 918.0m.
That was a 4.9% increase in volumes above the corresponding figure for milk production for May 2015.
Figures from the MMO show that Irish milk production was up 10.3% in the six-month period between January and June 2016.
