Polish milk production in 2020 exceeded 12bn litres for the first time in the country’s history.

New data published by Eurostat shows Polish milk production in December stood at 982m litres, which was up just over 1% year on year.

This brings Polish milk supply for the full 12 months of 2020 to a cumulative 12bn litres, which is up 2.3%, or 273m litres, on the previous year.

Since the end of milk quotas in 2015, Polish milk supply has expanded by almost 20% in the last five years – an extra 1.8bn litres of milk.

Second only to Ireland

The eastern European country is second only to Ireland in terms of the pace of dairy expansion since the end of EU milk quotas.

However, the pace of dairy expansion in Poland has begun to ease in the last 12 months.

From 2017 up until the middle of 2019, Polish milk production was growing at a rate of 3% to 5% every month, which is a really strong rate of supply growth.

For 2020, Eurostat data shows Polish milk supply has been more subdued, with production growth dipping to a more modest 1% to 2% for most of the year.

The milk supply stats from Poland will be very closely watched by European dairy traders in the opening months of 2021 and could be a key influencer of market sentiment.