In 2023, dairy farms in the European Union produced 160.8 million tons of raw milk, which is 0.8 million tons more than in 2022 and 15.8 million tons more than in 2013, according to a study by Eurostat.
According to it, most of the milk produced in the EU is used for butter and cheese production. Thus, in 2023, 149.3 million tons of raw milk were supplied to dairy plants, which was used to produce a number of fresh and ready-made dairy products.
In turn, EU dairies produced 22.0 million tons of drinking milk and 7.8 million tons of fermented milk products in 2023. At the same time, 58.2 million tons of whole milk and 17.4 million tons of skim milk were used to produce 10.6 million tons of cheese. Another 45.4 million tons of whole milk was used to produce 2.3 million tons of butter, the study says.
Germany became the leader in the production of milk and dairy products in the European Union, accounting for 19% of the total production of drinking milk. It was also a leading producer of fermented milk products (27%), butter (20%) and cheese (22%).
Spain was the second largest producer of drinking milk (15% of the EU total), followed by France (13%). The Netherlands was the second largest producer of fermented milk products (17%), followed by Poland (10%).
France was the second largest producer of both butter and cheese (18% of the EU total for each product). Ireland was third in butter production (13%) and Italy was third in cheese production (13%).
