After several months of decline, German milk production returned to growth in September. The latest figures from Eurostat show the German dairy farmers pumped out a little over 2.5bn litres of milk for the month of September – up 1.3% on the same month last year.

However, it must be remembered that continental Europe experienced a significant drought last summer, which hurt production on many farms. As such, this year’s milk production figures must be judged in that light.

The September milk collections brings German milk production for the first nine months of 2019 (Jan-Sept) to a cumulative 23.8bn litres, which is slightly down (0.3%) on the same period last year. Germany is the largest milk producing member state in the EU and as such it has a major bearing on market sentiment.