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Significantly more milk in Australia, shrinkage in New Zealand
The New Zealand dairy association DCANZ has published the milk production figures for January. A decline is visible compared to a year earlier. Australia has just started 2024 with increased milk production.
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In December last year, the milk supply in New Zealand still recorded green figures, but this trend will not be continued in January. At 2,324 million tonnes, supply is 1,19% below the level of the same month in 2023. Looking at the whole of 2023, milk production showed an increase compared to a year earlier. At 21,245 million tons, supply recorded a limited increase of 0,9% last year.
This has broken the downward trend. Yet a decline is already in the offing. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects a slight decrease to 21,2 million tons for this year. USDA indicates that the decline will mainly be due to weather patterns related to El Niño, the reduction in milk prices and continued cost inflation among dairy farmers. All this leads to a smaller dairy herd in New Zealand.
Australian milk production on the rise
In contrast to New Zealand, milk supply in Australia shows fairly strong growth figures. Dairy Australia reported milk production of 727,6 million liters in January. This is an increase of 5,2% compared to the same month a year earlier. The USDA predicts that Australian milk supply will increase by 2024% to 1 million tonnes for the whole of 8,5. The increase comes as cattle prices fall and labor shortages ease. These two factors have had a major influence on the continued decline in milk production in recent years.