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Milk supply Italy contributes to growth in December
After months of strong growth, the growth of the Italian milk volume almost completely came to a halt in December. However, the milk supply is still well above the 5-year average.
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Italian livestock farmers delivered 1.056.210 tons to processing companies in December. That was only 1.000 tons, or almost 0,1%, more than a year earlier. This brings an end to a period of unprecedented strong growth. In October and November, Italian milk production grew by 8,2% and 7,8% respectively. Also in the summer months, the milk pool in the country showed a growth of between 4% and 9% on a monthly basis.
Compared to the long-term average, the milk supply is still at a fairly high level. The average December production in Italy is 1.024.550 tons. The supply in December 2021 was 31.000 tons above this volume, a plus of 3%.
Milk imports plummeted
Italy's growing domestic milk production has significantly reduced the need for processors to import raw milk from other countries. In the first ten months of 2021, 535.000 tonnes of milk were imported from third countries. That was no less than 35% less than in 2020, when the volume in the first ten months was 839.000 tons. Moreover, the imported volume in 2020 was already almost 30% below the 2019 level. In 2019, Italian processors still imported 1.275.000 tons of unprocessed milk.