Dutch milk production remains in growth mode, despite falling farmgate milk prices in the Netherlands and prolonged periods of dry weather this summer. For June, Dutch milk production was up almost 1% year-on-year to just over 1.1bn litres.

This brings Dutch milk production for the first half of 2020 (Jan-Jun) to a cumulative 6.9bn litres, which is 2.4%, or 161m litres, ahead of the same period last year.

Dutch milk production enjoyed a very strong start to 2020 with supplies up 3% to 5% from January through to March. However, the pace of growth has slowed sharply since April and has been less than 1% for the last two months in a row.

Dutch dairy co-op Friesland Campina dropped its milk price for four consecutive months from a high of 36.5c/litre in February down to 32.5c/litre in June for milk with standard constituents of 3.57% protein and 4.42% fat.

However, the dairy giant recently increased its guaranteed milk price for July to 33c/litre in the expectation of rising milk prices from the other European dairy companies against which it benchmarks its milk price.