Germany's milk supply is now in a period of consistent decline as monthly figures paint a picture of a slowing production. In June, German dairy farmers pumped out just over 2.6bn litres of milk – down more than 2% on the same month last year.

In May, German milk production was down 1.5% year-on-year, while April milk collections were back almost 1%. These latest figures bring cumulative milk collections in Germany for the first six months of 2019 to 15.9bn litres, which is 1% behind the same period last year.

The falloff in German milk supply is significant for Europe’s dairy market as Germany is by far the largest milk producing state in the EU.

In neighbouring France, europe's second largest producer, milk collections for June stood at just under 2bn litres, which is in line with the same month last year. French milk production for the first half of 2019 stands at 10.3bn litres, which is almost 2% behind the same period last year.

The combined effect of these declines in German and French milk collections is that there is more than 330m litres less milk around Europe, which is naturally a boost for dairy commodity prices.