European Union: Dairy and Products Semi-annual

EU environmental restrictions and elevated input costs are depressing milk production in 27 European Union Member States (EU27). Additionally, the increase in cow productivity can no longer compensate for the decline in the EU27 dairy cow herd. As a result, EU27 cows’ milk production has been shrinking since 2021 and is forecasted at 143.9 million metric ton (MT) for 2023, 0.55 percent down from 2022. With declining milk deliveries, the processors are forecasted to have less milk available for factory use in 2023, which forces them to carefully assess for which products they will use the available milk. EU27 cheese production for 2023 is forecast to increase to 10.5 MMT as consumption continues to rise year after year. This comes at the expense of the production of butter, non-fat dry milk (NFDM), and whole milk powder (WMP).