The Dutch milk tap continues to flow in 2017 despite market expectations to the contrary. Figures released on Thursday by Eurostat show that Dutch milk collections for November came to just under 1.1bn litres, which is 1.9% ahead of the same month last year. This brings cumulative milk production in the Netherlands for the first 11 months of 2017 to 12.6bn litres, which is just 0.3% lower than the same period last year.

Many corners had predicted a big decline in Dutch milk production this year following the introduction of new regulations to curb phosphates. However, these forecasts have proved unfounded and Dutch dairy farmers continue to produce high volumes of milk in a bid to reap the most from the current high price for milk.

November is the third consecutive month that Dutch milk production has increased. In October, milk supplies were 1.6% ahead of the same month last year. The continued expansion of Dutch milk supply has undoubtedly had a negative effect on dairy market sentiment in recent months.

FrieslandCampina, the largest milk processor in the Netherlands, has recently written to dairy farmers asking them to restrain milk production in spring 2018. The dairy giant warned that overproduction could lead to new milk pricing structures that penalised farmers that overproduced.