In 2020, EU farms produced 160.1 million tonnes of raw milk, 1.1 % more than in 2019. From that total, an estimated 149.9 million tonnes were used by dairies, together with skimmed milk, to produce a range of manufactured dairy products, as well as fresh products. This information comes from data on milk and milk products published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on milk and milk products.
Among other products, dairies produced 1.6 million tonnes of skimmed milk powder, 2.3 million tonnes of butter, 7.7 million tonnes of acidified milk products like yoghurts, 10.3 million tonnes of cheese, 24.0 million tonnes of drinking milk and, as a by-product of the manufacture of cheese, 55.5 million tonnes of whey in 2020. EU dairies produced more of all of these products in 2020 than they did in 2019 and, in turn, except for fresh products, more than they did in 2018. For example, the amount of butter produced in 2020 was 1.7 % more than in 2019, fresh drinking milk was 2.6 % higher, and the amount of cheese produced was 3.0 % more than in 2019.
Dairies in Germany accounted for the highest share of EU production of all main fresh and manufactured dairy products, including drinking milk (19.3 % of the EU total), butter (21.0 %), cheese (22.9 %) and acidified milk products (23.7 %).
Unsurprisingly, the highest levels of production for dairy products were generally recorded in the most populous EU Member States, although there were some exceptions. For example, Ireland accounted for the third-highest share of butter produced (12.4 %) and the Netherlands for the fourth-highest for cheese (9.7 % of the EU total).
For more information:
- Dairy products are recorded in terms of their weight. It is thus difficult to compare the quantities of various products (for example, tonnes of fresh milk and of milk powder). The volume of whole or skimmed milk used in dairy processes provides more comparable figures. Two dimensions (quantities of whole and skimmed milk used) reflect the material balance of the valuable milk components, especially fat (in whole milk only) and protein (in total milk used).
- Overview of agriculture statistics
- Statistics Explained article on milk and milk products