Ireland has overtaken France to become the EU’s largest exporter of butter to third countries. Data from the European Commission’s Milk Market Observatory (MMO) shows Irish dairy co-ops have exported close to 27,500t of butter in the first seven months of 2019 (Jan-July).

France is the second-largest exporter having shipped just under 20,000t of butter in the first seven months of 2019, while Denmark exported more than 13,000t of butter in the same period.

The US is by far the largest buyer of Irish butter, importing close to 19,000t in the first seven months of 2019. This equates to almost 70% of all of Ireland’s butter exports to countries outside the EU. Turkey is the second-largest non-EU buyer of Irish butter importing 2,620t up to the end of July.

The MMO figures highlight just how much of a success story the Kerrygold brand has been in the US. After Ireland, France is the next-biggest butter supplier from Europe to the US shipping less than 1,000t up to the end of July 2019.

For the whole of 2018, Ireland exported 31,000t of butter to non-EU countries. It’s highly likely Irish dairy co-ops will exceed this figure in 2019 and firmly establish Ireland as the EU’s largest butter exporter.