France, Europe’s second-largest milk producer, published its full February report last week showing a 3% fall compared with the same month last year. Weekly surveys conducted in March, however, show that production has been catching up and was on a par with 2016 levels. The next few weeks will show whether French farmers can keep up the pace during the spring peak.

Full monthly figures are not yet available for European leader Germany, but early reports from the milk market information agency ZMB show that production was still running 2.9% below last year’s levels until mid-March.

Milk supply in the Netherlands was sharply down in February, 4.4% below last year’s levels. This was before the full effect of the phosphorus cow cull is felt.

Meanwhile, the UK's production was down 2% year-on-year in February. This is mostly due to a 2.7% drop in output in Britain, while production in Northern Ireland was actually up 2.3%.

In the Republic of Ireland, February collections were down 7.8% on last year’s.

Many European and international producing countries are slowly filling the gap observed after the sharp drop in supply during the second half of 2016, and global production is forecast to pick up later this year.

All figures for February are adjusted to 28 days.

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Most EU countries have reported milk production figures for February and indications are available for March. They are still showing a lag compared with last year but with some countries catching up.