New Zealand’s milking season for 2017/18, which runs from June to May in the calendar year, finished flat with the previous year after a late surge in April and May milk production.

Figures released on Monday by the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) show that milk production by New Zealand dairy farmers for May stood at 840m litres, which was more than 6% ahead of the same month last year.

In April, New Zealand milk production was up 3% year on year to 1.4bn litres. This late flurry in milk production growth brought New Zealand milk production for the 2017/18 milking season to 20.65bn litres, which is in line with the 2016/17 season and 1% behind the 2015/16 milk season.

If it hadn’t been for the severe drought which hit New Zealand in December and January, milk production for the 2017/18 season would likely have been a lot stronger.

In Europe, new data shows German milk production for April came in at just under 2.7bn litres, which was a 3.5% increase year on year. This brings German milk production for the first four months of 2018 to just over 10.5bn litres, which is over 3% ahead of the same period last year.

Data on French milk production in April is likely to be published later this week.

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