Irish milk production broke the 8bn litre mark for the first time in history last year.

New milk supply figures published by Eurostat show Irish milk production in 2020 finished the year at 8.25bn litres, which is up nearly 4% compared with 2019 supply levels.

In the final three months of 2020, milk production was up almost 7% on average.

Milk supply for December increased almost 5% on last year to just over 250m litres.

50% growth

Since the end of EU milk quotas five years ago, Irish milk production has grown by more than 50%, with an extra 2.8bn litres now being produced compared to 2014 levels.

Meanwhile, December milk production in France, the second-largest dairy producer in Europe, was down almost 1.5% to just under 2bn litres.

This brings French milk production for all of 2020 to a cumulative 23.8bn litres, which is slightly ahead of the previous year.

It’s understood French milk production in the opening weeks of 2021 is down on last year.