Inside Milk
Eastern Europe surpasses dairy farming in the Netherlands
EU member states in eastern Europe are overtaking the Netherlands in the field of dairy farming. Estonian dairy farmers record the highest milk production per cow. Poland surpasses the Netherlands when it comes to total milk production.
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This is evident from recently published data figures from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Commission. The published data refers to 2020.
The Netherlands may still be one of the major milk producers in the EU, but in addition to Germany and France, the country now also has to take the lead from Poland when it comes to the total volume of milk produced. Poland registered a milk production of 14,8 billion kilos last year and the Netherlands 14,5 billion kilos. Polish milk production is increasing, while Dutch production is under pressure.
In terms of milk production per cow, the Netherlands is one of the leaders with 9.256 kilos, but Estonian dairy farmers take the cake with 10.063 kilos per cow. The EU average last year was 7.509 kilos per cow. Production was lowest in Romania. where an average dairy cow only gave 3.228 kilos.
Total European milk production last year amounted to 160 billion kilos. Of this, about 10 billion kilos remained on the farm, as feed for the calves and for own use or dairy production on the farm. The remaining more than 149 billion kilos went to the factory for processing.
Milk production is not evenly distributed across the EU, mainly because not all regions are equally suitable for this. About 65% of all milk production is concentrated in five of the 27 European Member States, namely: Germany, France, Poland, the Netherlands and Italy. The United Kingdom used to be in this list, but was left out due to Brexit.
In the period since 2015, the milk price in the EU has fluctuated significantly. In 2016, the price fell by an average of 6,1%, followed by a particularly strong recovery of 20,3% the following year. Last year the average milk price was 1,4% lower than in 2020.
However, there were deviations, notes Eurostat. In the main milk producing Member States the fluctuations were above average. In the Netherlands, the milk price fell by 8,2% last year, in Germany by 2,0% and in Italy by 2,4%. In Spain, on the other hand, the milk price rose by 2,5% and in Ireland by 1,1%.