A 15% hike in December milk supplies is likely to have pushed total milk supplied on the island of Ireland over the 10bn litre-mark for the first time ever last year.

When the final statistics are tallied for December, they are likely to show that the Republic produced over 7.7bn litres, with over 2.4bn litres produced in Northern Ireland.

Results from an Irish Farmers Journal survey of the main milk processors this week show that December 2018 milk supply was 15% higher than December 2017.

Some processors were up almost 30% for the month. Aurivo volumes were up 12%, Arrabawn up 25%, and Lakeland up 17%.

In the south, Dairygold was up 25%, and Kerry up 2.4%. The west Cork co-ops are all up, with Lisavaird up 30% and Drinagh up 18%.

CSO figures show December 2017 milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers at 202m litres.

If our estimated survey results for December 2018 are confirmed, that equates to an extra 30m litres produced by farmers in the month.

At 9% milk solids, that’s an extra 2.7m kg of milk solids. If valued at 30c/lkg, it equates to an additional €11.6m for dairy farmers’ pockets compared with the same month in 2017.

All indications are that January 2019 milk supply is also up compared with January 2018, albeit at small volumes.

CSO estimates show January 2018 milk intake was 150m litres. If our survey results for January 2019 are confirmed, there may be an additional 10m to 15m litres supplied for the month.

So far, Dairygold has reported January supplies up 4%, Drinagh reported January supplies up 10% and near neighbour Lisavaird up 15%.

Arrabawn reported a 10% increase, while Lakeland was up 17%.