Milk production in the UK averaged 37m litres/day during the last week in July and first week in August, according to AHDB. This is a 6.8% drop on the same time last year and is 2.9% lower than the average for the past three years.

European trend

This confirms the trend observed across the EU through figures released in the past few days.

French data shows a 3.3% drop in June volumes compared with last year, while Germany's output was down 1.7% during the same period.

Italian estimates from the dairy market analysis firm CLAL show a 2.7% year-on-year drop in June.

Read more

Dairy futures market: milk powder futures rise ahead of Tuesday’s GDT

Germany will match EU funding but Ireland still hasn’t decided