Global milk deliveries

Updated 27 March 2024

Trends in global milk supplies impact on prices. Deliveries in the six key exporting regions are tracked to provide an overview of current production levels and trends in global milk supplies.

The milk production regions included are the EU-27, UK, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Combined, they account for more than 65% of global cow's milk production and around 80% of global exports of dairy products.

• Global milk deliveries averaged 803.6 million litres per day in January, a decline of 7.2 million litres per day, (-0.9%) across the selected regions, compared to the same period last year. All regions except Australia and New Zealand recorded year on year volume decline.
• Milk deliveries in the EU averaged 366.9 million litres per day in January, a decline of 2.5 million litres per day (0.7%) compared to the same point last year.
• Looking at this EU figure in greater detail, we see the greatest change in Irish milk production, down 22.4% (40.4 million litres) compared to January of the previous year. Production in Germany was also down, by 2.0% (53.6 million litres) and France declined slightly, down 0.3% (6.5 million litres) year on year. On the contrary, increases of 2.8% (29.4 million litres) and 2.0% (20.6 million litres) were recorded in Poland and Italy, respectively.
• UK daily deliveries averaged 40.0 million litres per day in January, down only 0.3% on last year. Improving farmgate prices, and lower costs, during the last few months have resulted in a more favourable milk-to-feed ratio thereby encouraging production for some which has meant production declines are less than expected.
• US production was down 1.1% year on year, with a 3.1 million litre decline on the average daily deliveries in January, compared to the same month last year. 
• Australia recorded an increase in milk production, with deliveries up 1.2 million litres (5.2%) compared to last year, to sit at an average of 23.5 million litres per day.
• New Zealand deliveries were also up 1.3 million litres on last year’s figure, with January’s average daily deliveries at 75.0 million litres per day.
• Argentina’s production further declined, down 12.6% (3.9 million litres per day) versus last year. Weather impacted production in the month, with prolonged periods of high temperatures and a lack of rainfall affecting pasture and corn growth which in turn limited feed availability.

• The tracker is a baseline for comparing against actual production, not a forecast of milk production.
• The baseline is calculated using historic month-on-month movements in milk production, providing information on a typical milk year in each of the key regions.