Dairy at a glance

September 2023

This webpage provides a snapshot of key information relating to the latest milk year for the dairy market.

A summary of the Dairy market in milk year 2022/2023

• GB dairy producer numbers have reduced by 8% as at April 2023 when compared to the previous year.
  

• Despite the herd size reducing by 100,000 head the overall production is up 26 million litres per annum, with the average yield per cow increasing by 57 litres per annum.

• The split in the breakdown of GB dairy farms by system in 2022 remains broadly unchanged on the previous year. 51% were undefined and a 1% reduction in all year round calving systems to 31% employed.

• GB organic milk production as a percentage of total milk fell from 4% in 2021 to 3% in 2022.

• UK liquid milk utilisation reduced from 44% to 43% of total milk, with milk for cheese up from 34% to 35%.

• Retail spend for year ending Feb 2023 when compared with Feb 2023 has increased by 9.4% in total, with all products up in spend apart from cream which was unchanged.

• The import of cheese increase of 11,000 t has driven the overall increase in the volume of products imported, with both butter and milk powders reducing slightly.

• The export of cheese has grown by 15% (22,000 t) but both butter (-7%) and milk powder (-10%) have reduced when compared to last year.

• UK production of liquid milk has reduced by 0.5% on last year with both butter (+4%) and cheese (+2%) increasing.

 Dairy market in milk year 2022/2023: the infographics

This dataset was produced by our Data and Analysis Team.

If you need any further help, please email Martin, Gavin, Esther or Dorian at datum@ahdb.org.uk

You can download a handy A4 poster. Click below for your Dairy at a glance pdf.

Visit the Dairy market analysis page for the latest information and insights to guide you through market movements.

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