UK dairy exports had a mixed month-on-month performance in May, with butter down 14 percent and whey down 9 percent.

But the cheese, powdered and condensed milk and yogurt categories all up, by 13%, 34% and 26% respectively, said Katherine Jack, AHDB Dairy analyst.

However, May 2021 exports were still down on their 2020 counterpart for all categories except milk and cream, she noted.

May imports were similarly still down year-on-year, but with a mixed month-on-month performance.

“The categories down compared with April were milk and cream (-3%), powdered/condensed milk (-4%) and yogurt & fermented dairy (-7%),” Ms Jack said.

The categories up on the month were whey products (+14%), butter products (+38%), and cheese and curd (+17%).

“As a final note, last month we identified that the UK had achieved a small trade surplus with the EU for Cheddar, for the first time. This surplus has been maintained into May.”