European Union: Dairy and Products Semi-annual

EU milk production in 2024 is forecast to fall slightly to 148.9 million metric tons (MMT), from an estimated 149.3 MMT in 2023 as a result of declining cow numbers and lower milk production profitability. With lower milk production, which will only be partially offset by lower expected fluid milk consumption, factory use consumption is also forecast to minimally decrease in 2024. This is requiring dairy processors to carefully decide for which products they will use the available milk. Cheese production is forecast to remain the primary output goal of the EU dairy processing industry, supported by solid domestic consumption and continued strong export demand. EU27 cheese production in 2024 is forecast to reach 10.62 MMT, up by 0.6 percent from 2023. This comes at the expense of the production of butter, non-fat dry milk (NFDM), and whole milk powder (WMP).