Search our website enhanced by Google.
Welsh milk surplus set to reach 1 billion litres per year
Tuesday, 15 October 2019
By Chris Gooderham
Milk processing capability in Wales has fallen, leading to an increase in milk transported to England for processing.
Welsh milk production is estimated to have reached 1,971m litres in 2018/19, an increase of 123m litres (7%) since 2016/17. Up until now, the continual investment and expansion of a few larger processing sites has allowed all this extra milk to be processed in the country.
However, current capacity is now estimated at just 956m litres per year, driven in part by the recent end of milk collections into Tomlinson’s Dairy and the mothballing of Arla’s LLandyrnog site at the end of 2018
A modest increase in milk production between now and next year, would leave the Welsh milk surplus at 1,055m litres per year, more than half the amount collected off farms.
One glimmer of hope is the potential opening of a new cheese factory in north Wales in the coming year, but that may only be enough to partially offset recent processing losses.
Additional information
We estimate Welsh milk production using milking herd numbers and an estimate of milk yields per cow. The milking herd in Wales grew to 254k head in 2018, a 3k head year on year increase. The increase in the size of the milking herd, alongside an increase in average milk yield per cow has led to the continued growth in production.
Sign up to receive the latest information from AHDB.
While AHDB seeks to ensure that the information contained on this webpage is accurate at the time of publication, no warranty is given in respect of the information and data provided. You are responsible for how you use the information. To the maximum extent permitted by law, AHDB accepts no liability for loss, damage or injury howsoever caused or suffered (including that caused by negligence) directly or indirectly in relation to the information or data provided in this publication.
All intellectual property rights in the information and data on this webpage belong to or are licensed by AHDB. You are authorised to use such information for your internal business purposes only and you must not provide this information to any other third parties, including further publication of the information, or for commercial gain in any way whatsoever without the prior written permission of AHDB for each third party disclosure, publication or commercial arrangement. For more information, please see our Terms of Use and Privacy Notice or contact the Director of Corporate Affairs at info@ahdb.org.uk © Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. All rights reserved.