Irish dairy farmers produced a record 7.95 billion litres of milk in 2019, which was up 5%, or more than 400m litres, on the previous year. This means since the end of dairy quotas, Irish milk production has grown by 2.5 billion litres or a massive 46%.

The surge in Irish milk production last year was driven by very strong growth in milk supplies in the first half of the year, with milk production topping one billion litres in the peak month of May for the very first time.

Polish growth

In Poland, the other EU member state that is increasing its milk output alongside Ireland, 2019 milk production increased 2% to reach 11.8 billion litres.

After a very strong start in the first quarter of the year, Polish milk production growth eased off dramatically from May through to September before it picked up pace again in October to finish the year strongly.

Australian milk production remains in freefall

Meanwhile, in the southern hemisphere, Australian milk production remains in freefall. The latest industry figures show November milk production in Australia stood at 900m litres, which was down 3.5% on the previous year.

This brings Australian milk production for the first five months of the 2019/20 milking season, which started in July 2019 and ends in June 2020, to a cumulative four billion litres, which is down more than 5%, or 225 million litres, on the same period in 2018.