Irish dairy co-ops produced more than 250,000t of butter last year, according to new figures from the CSO.

This is a record level of butter production for Ireland and reflects the record level of milk produced by Irish farmers last year, which rose 5% year on year to an all-time high of nearly 8bn litres.

Since the end of dairy quotas in 2014, annual Irish butter production has grown by more than 50%, or almost 85,000t.

Just like the milk supply curve, April, May, June and July are the peak months for butter production, with some 115,000t of butter produced in these months last year.

The CSO figures also show a sharp increase in the production of skimmed milk powder (SMP) in Ireland.

For 2019, Irish co-ops produced a total of 135,000t of SMP, with 25,000t of this produced in May – the peak month for Irish milk production, when co-ops are forced to dry a large volume of milk into powders to manage capacity.

Since the end of quotas, Irish production of SMP has more than doubled (+119%) from 61,000t in 2014 close to 135,000t last year.

While figures are not provided to the CSO for cheese production, Irish cheese output for 2019 is likely to exceed 240,000t for the first time.

Meanwhile, European dairy markets are generally steady this week. Spot prices for butter are firm at €3,570/t, while cheddar prices are hovering around €3,200/t. Mozzarella prices have increased slightly to €3,150/t. On powder markets, SMP prices are down slightly to €2,620/t, while the price of whole milk powder (WMP) increased 440/t last week to €3,100/t.