Domestic milk intake in Ireland increased by 6.9m litres (+4.2%) to a total of 169.4m litres in January 2026, compared with January 2025, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This is an increase of 14.1% or 20.9m litres on January 2024.

Fat content for January 2026 also increased to 4.63%, up from 4.51% in January 2025. In addition, protein content increased from 3.58% to 3.65% in the same period.

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Butter

Butter production in January 2026 was similar to that of January 2025 at 6,300 tonnes.

In January 2026, of the milk taken in, 23m litres was whole milk sale, while 16.5m litres was skimmed and semi-skimmed milk sales.

2025 marked the year with the highest ever recorded domestic milk intake by Irish processors and co-ops, estimated at 8.84bn litres, a 4.8% (406.8m litres) increase on 2024 and a 4.5% (376.8m litres) jump on 2023.