This is the third month in a row that domestic milk intake has fallen. Milk intake in December was down by 17.1% as farmers attempted to reduce supplies to avoid a superlevy bill. In November it fell by 14% on the previous year.

According to the CSO, total milk sold for human consumption fell by 1.3% to 39.9 million litres.Butter production was also down 3.2% to 4,300 tonnes.

Milk volumes rose by 4.8% overall in the EU. Production increased by 10% in Latvia and 8.8% in the UK.

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