Milk supply to Ireland’s creameries and pasteurisers from Irish dairy farmers for August is up 0.9% on the same month last year, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The total domestic milk intake by milk processors for August was 925.6m litres, while, 1,922.8m litres was supplied in July by Irish dairy farmers.

CSO figures also show that in the period January to August 2022, milk supply was estimated at 6,586m litres, a decrease of 21.8m litres (-0.3%) when compared with the corresponding period for 2021.

Fat content increased from 4.19% in August 2021 to 4.21% in August 2022.

Protein content of the milk supplied by Irish dairy farmers decreased from 3.54% to 3.53% over the same period.

Skim milk powder increased by 6.2% from 16,400t in August 2021 to 17,400t in August 2022.

In relation to butter production, it increased marginally from 28,800t in August 2021 to 28,900t in August 2022.

Rest of EU

The CSO also compared milk supply for the rest of the EU between the months of January and July 2021 and 2022.

For this period of time, Ireland's milk supply was down 0.5%, with the most drastic decrease in milk supplied to creameries seen in Bulgaria.

Milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers in Bulgaria dropped by 6.3% in this same period compared with 2022.

Lithuania and Austria were among the few countries that saw an increase in milk supply, with rises of 3.1% and 3.4% respectively.