Global milk supplies are running 0.7% ahead of last year, despite dairy commodity prices taking a serious hit this year.

This is bad news for milk processors and dairy farmers, as a combination of increased output and poor demand has rocked markets.

Industry figures for the year up to the end of July show that milk output is up right across the world.

Milk production in the European Union (EU) was up 0.5% to the end of the July, the US was up 0.6%, while New Zealand was up 2.8%.

The only region/country to buck the positive supply trend was Australia, where output was down 1.6% for the period from January to July.

Milk supplies within the EU were mixed. Dutch output was up 2.7%, German supplies increased by 2.5%, while Polish milk production was up 1.7%.

In contrast, figures from the Central Statistics Office show that Irish milk supplies to the end of July were back 0.8%, while French output was down 2.3%.