Provisional figures have been provided by the RPA which give butterfat adjusted milk deliveries of 13,395 million litres for 2007/08. Taking into account permanent and predicted temporary conversions, this puts the UK at 744.7 million litres under quota, 81.9% more than the previous year. This deficit is 335.2 million litres greater than 2006/07 and the largest deficit seen in over a decade. However, start-of-year quota for 2007/08 did increase 0.5% - 71 million litres to 14,201.0 million litres from 2006/07. The 2007/08 milk year saw a continuing fall in the number of dairy farmers while the number of dairy cows also fell 1.3% between June 2006 and June 2007. In 2007 the UK also saw the wettest June on record with May and July also seeing the highest level of rain for 20 years, impacting on production. Click here for monthly production figures.

aNNUAL pRODUCTION AND qUOTA (mILLION LITRES)	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08
Start-of-year wholesale quota	14,037.8	14,062.3	14,130.0	14,201.0
Permanent conversions	24.5	2.9	1.1	-6.8
Temporary conversions	-59.8	-63.8	-54.8	-54.3
End-of-year wholesale quota	14,002.4	14,001.4	14,076.3	14,139.3
Annually declared deliveries not butterfat adjusted	13,767.7	13,604.0	13,492.4	13,182.5
Annually declared deliveries butterfat adjusted	13,853.6	13,735.4	13,661.0	13,395.2
Deliveries under/over quota	-148.8*	-266.0	-409.5	-744.7

* Provisional

Quota Position by Region

The table below shows each regions position relative to quota for 2006/07 and 2007/08. All regions in England finished 2007/08 well below respective quotas, while Wales was also below quota. Scotland and Northern Ireland were both above respective quota by 0.9% and 3.2% respectively. Despite Northern Ireland being 60.9 million litres over their respective quota they do not get hit by superlevy due to the UK as a whole being 5% under quota.

The 2007/08 figures show that production has decreased further with the UK quota position reduced from -3.1% to -5.0%, this is a fall of over 263/million litres to -701/million litres. The Western Isles in Scotland shows the highest percentage below their respective quota this is due to there being no production there but the region holding 200,000 litres of quota. There is a similar situation in Greater London where production is 36.4% below quota held of 2.9 million litres. In England the region closest to quota held is Devon with production just 2.8% below quota held. For more information on quota by region click here.

Wholesale Production Quota Position
	06/07			07/08
	Volume (litres) Under/Over Quota	%		Volume (litres) Under/Over Quota	%
West	-117,474,840	-6.32%		-173,203,271	-9.28%
East	-31,362,518	-14.11%		-39,273,646	-17.74%
East Midlands	-58,934,123	-8.58%		-64,103,892	-9.60%
North East	-4,578,251	-3.06%		-9,397,183	-6.36%
Cheshire	-47,426,085	-5.98%		-62,812,964	-7.89%
Cumbria	+82,562	+0.01%		-30,712,363	-3.59%
Grt. Manchester	-3,665,512	-12.07%		-5,804,317	-19.18%
North West	+2,686,364	+0.48%		-30,000,794	-5.36%
South East	-45,090,444	-6.90%		-64,095,844	-9.95%
Cornwall	-34,575,044	-6.28%		-41,683,227	-7.48%
Devon	-30,013,430	-3.07%		-27,464,320	-2.75%
West Midlands	-69,468,523	-5.07%		-87,432,469	-6.45%
Yorks & Humberside	-25,476,453	-3.84%		-44,005,665	-6.67%
ENGLAND	-465,296,297	-4.98%		-679,989,955	-7.27%
WALES	-88,662,083	-5.64%		-92,993,024	-5.92%
SCOTLAND	+41,985,016	+3.29%		11,406,086	+0.88%
NORTHERN IRELAND	+74,758,583	+4.04%		60,898,844	+3.24%
UK	-437,214,781	-3.11%		-700,678,049	-4.97%

Quota by holding size

The figures below show the number of wholesale quota holders and the amount of quota held by each category for the 2007/08 milk year. There are currently 17,563 wholesale quota holders in the UK and they hold over 14 billion litres of quota. Over 30% (5,309) of wholesale quota holders hold between 200,000 litres and 499,999 litres, with only 0.4% (62) holding over 5 million litres of quota. Although those holding over 5 million litres only account for 0.4% of holders they account for 3.1% of all wholesale quota held, with the average holding over 7 million litres.

Source: RPA