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There was a 10% fall of 625.6kt last month. That’s a 6.8% drop year on year.
Victoria, which accounts for 62% of all milk collections, recorded the biggest drop, falling back 8%.
New South Wales and Tasmania, which are the second and third largest milk producing states, saw their collections fall by 7.6% and 0.5% respectively in February.
Milk fat and protein up
A decline in milk collections was also seen in the first month of this year, with a fall of 5.9%.
The Australian season runs from July to January. Milk production peaks in October and then goes to a seasonal low from February to July.
Collections from July now total 6.55m tonnes, down 8.38% on the 7.15m tonnes collected by the same point last season.
Australian milk fat and protein increased year-on-year in February, with milk fat coming in at 4.26%, up from 4.22% last year. Protein content also increased by 0.03% from 3.35% in February 2016 to 3.38% at last month.
European production
In the first quarter of 2017, milk production in the EU will be down, the European Commission has said.
However, it does foresee further expansion in milk production for the rest of the year, rising 0.6% above 2016 levels.
Milk deliveries in the EU last year were up 0.4% on the previous year, with strong increases in Ireland, with a rise of 4.4%.
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