In the UK, milk deliveries have been lower on an annual basis since August 2021, and in the first three months of 2022, these were down by 1.9% on 2021. Fat and protein content was also slightly lower, meaning total solids production in the same period was down 2.4%.
For butter, lower production, combined with an increase in net trade (exports-imports) has seen availability of supplies drop in comparison to where things stood last year. Meanwhile, cheese supplies are in a similar position to last year overall, with just a small increase in availability in the first quarter.
For milk powders, there was an overall decrease in availability, due to lower production and a small shift in trade. Although imports and exports have not moved much compared to Q1 2021, they are both still considerably lower than pre-2021. The UK typically runs a trade surplus in milk powders, so it may be that the difficulties in shipping product – whether due to the increased administrative burden post-Brexit or the higher cost and lower availability of containers – has hampered exports.
EU milk powder availability was up year on year for the first quarter. This was due to a combination of lower production volumes (than last year) and a relatively large drop in exports.
