Inside Milk
Dutch milk supply is catching up slightly
In the first few months of the year, the Dutch milk supply was generally below last year's level. A small catch-up is being made in May and there is no negative difference compared to last year's milk production.
Read this article?
Become a subscriber and get instant access
Choose the subscription that suits you
During the month of May, Dutch dairy farmers produced a total of just over 1.213.200 tons of milk, according to figures from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Compared to the same period last year, this is a stable development. However, production is 0,6% above the 2019 level. When milk production is compared with the 5-year average, it lags behind by 1% in May.
At 4,41%, the fat percentage is above last year's level. At the time the percentage was 4,34%. However, the percentage has decreased compared to the previous month. In April this was 4,53%.
The fact that milk production remained below last year's level during the first months is largely due to the weather conditions. These made it difficult to increase the milk supply. The weather conditions are now much better and this is reflected in a more positive development of the milk supply.
Spreading milk production
The annual seasonal peak moment of milk supply has now been reached. However, the dairy trade has the impression that production is less likely to decline from this peak than in other years. This may have to do with the current favorable weather conditions, but perhaps also with the idea that dairy farms are making an extra effort in milk production with the current milk prices. However, roughage stocks are not ample and feed prices are very high, which does not improve the dairy farm's returns. This can actually discourage dairy farms from extra milking.