Milk production in both Australia and New Zealand increased for the month of January.

In the both nations, the 2020/21 milking season is now entering its final months, but there is still plenty of milk to be produced.

In the southern hemisphere, the milking season works on the opposite timeline to here in Europe as their spring months take place during our autumn. The southern hemisphere milking season typically kicks off in August and runs until May.

In New Zealand, milk production for the month of January stood at 2.4bn litres, which is up almost 1% on the same month last year. This brings New Zealand milk production for the first eight months of the 2020/21 milking season to a cumulative 15.5bn litres, which his 1% of the same period last year.

Based on the current supply trends, New Zealand dairy farmers are on track to produce well over 21bn litres of milk by the end of the season.

Australia

In Australia, dairy farmers produced 762m litres of milk for the month of January, which is up more than 3% on the same month last year. This strong growth in January milk supply volumes in Australia comes after three months of supply weakness in which milk production volumes were down in October, November and December.

The January figures brings Australian milk production for the first seven months of their 2020/21 milking season to a cumulative 5.7bn litres, which is 1% ahead of the same period last year. Based on the current trends, Australian milk supply for the entire 2020/21 season is on track to hit just under 9bn litres.

However, Australian milk production can be incredibly volatile and is much more influenced by weather conditions than in New Zealand. The 2020/21 milk season may be winding down in the southern hemisphere but there’s still plenty of time left for a few twists and turns in milk supply volumes.