Since April, we have been estimating what milk deliveries could have been if many farmers hadn’t taken measures to limit their milk production. These estimates shifted from running above actual GB milk deliveries, to running roughly in line with it from the second week of July. Production is currently running slightly above our latest forecast, which was published in June, but only by a marginal 0.7%.
As of these latest estimates, milk production was cut by 75 million litres in Apr-June: 19m litres in April, 35m litres in May, and 21m litres in June*. This reduction was primarily driven by removing cows from the herd, as well as drying cows off early and limiting yield growth. As the season continues, the lingering impact of coronavirus on markets may have further impacts on milk production.
*Please note that this includes routine revisions to the weighting we use in daily deliveries data and so these figures differ slightly from previous estimates we have published.
Source: ahdb.org.uk
