August saw 9m fewer litres of milk produced on 2022’s output

Milk deliveries to dairy processors were down 1% this August when compared with August 2022, representing 9m fewer litres of milk, the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show.

Overall, milk deliveries to co-ops for the period of January through to August have fallen from 6,579m litres in 2022 to 6,522m litres, a drop of 0.9% or 57m litres over the eight months.

However, fat and protein were both up in August, relative to the average constituents reported for the same period in 2022.

The average butterfat of milk delivered in August 2023 stood at 4.27%, while average protein came in at 3.60%.

CSO figures have shown a milk output drop for every month since February of this year.

Sales

The CSO’s provisional volume estimate for milk sales shows a marginal rise on 2022 for both the full-fat and semi- or skimmed-milk categories.

Sales of skimmed milk powder were reportedly up for the month of August by just over 20% in volume terms on the same month a year previous, with butter sales also up on August 2022, but down on the previous month this year (July).

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