While European milk production is now at its lowest ebb in the winter months, milk supply from countries in the southern hemisphere is moving through the months of peak production with the seasons reversed.

In New Zealand, farmers have enjoyed some decent weather in the spring months and early milk supply has been in growth mode this year. For October, which is the month for peak milk supply in New Zealand, milk production stood at 3.1bn litres, which was up almost 1% year on year.

This means milk production for the first five months of the 2020/21 milking season in New Zealand stands at a cumulative 7.7bn litres, which is over 2%, or almost 160m litres, ahead of last year. New Zealand is the world’s largest dairy exporting country with over 90% of its production shipped to world markets.

As such, changes in New Zealand milk supply up or down can have a major bearing on the sentiment of global dairy markets. Last season, New Zealand produced over 21bn litres of milk.