Figures have been provided by the RPA which give butterfat adjusted deliveries of 13,661 million litres for 2006/07. Taking into account permanent and predicted temporary conversions, this puts the UK at 409.5 million litres under quota, 53.8% more than the previous year. This deficit is 143.5 million litres greater than 2005/06 and the largest deficit seen in over a decade. Milk prices and poor weather has been blamed with cows being housed for longer and silage quality not being as good as expected. In addition, cow numbers have fallen this year while average yield has remained relatively stable compared to the previous year.

Although it is very early in the quota year, poor weather conditions have already affected milk production. With quota increasing by a further 0.5% to 14,201.0 million litres, it will be difficult for the UK to reach quota in 2007/08. Click here for monthly production figures.

aNNUAL pRODUCTION AND qUOTA (mILLION LITRES)	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07
Start-of-year wholesale quota	14,029.1	14,037.8	14,062.3	14,130.0
Permanent conversions	8.7	24.5	2.9	1.1
Temporary conversions	-27.3	-59.8	-63.8	-54.8*
End-of-year wholesale quota	14,010.3	14,002.4	14,001.4	14,070.5
Annually declared deliveries not butterfat adjusted	14,030.3	13,767.7	13,604.0	13,492.4
Annually declared deliveries butterfat adjusted	14,034.1	13,853.6	13,735.4	13,661.0
Deliveries under/over quota	23.8	-148.8*	-266.0	-409.5

* Provisional

Quota Position by Region

The table below shows each regions position relative to quota for 2005/06 and 2006/07. As would be expected, most regions finished well below respective quotas. However, there have been four exceptions; Cumbria, North West, Scotland and Northern Ireland who were over quota by 0.01, 0.48, 3.29 and 4.04% respectively. In Northern Ireland, production has continued to increase over the last few years and as the rest of the UK continues to be under quota, Northern Ireland does not get hit by superlevy.

The 2006/07 figures show that production has decreased further with the UK quota position reduced from -1.8% to -3.11%, this is a fall of over 191/million litres to -437/million litres. The biggest fall is in Greater Manchester, where the quota postion fell from -1.6/million litres to -3.6/million litres, this was a percentage fall from -5.6% to -12.07%.

Wholesale Production Quota Position
	05/06			06/07
	Volume (litres) Under/Over Quota	%		Volume (litres) Under/Over Quota	%
West	-68,487,206	-3.7		-117,474,840	-6.32
East	-22,880,254	-10.4		-31,362,518	-14.11
East Midlands	-31,434,586	-4.5		-58,934,123	-8.58
North East	-5,103,898	-3.3		-4,578,251	-3.06
Cheshire	-19,393,510	-2.5		-47,426,085	-5.98
Cumbria	-8,725,150	-1.1		+82,562	+0.01
Grt. Manchester	-1,664,986	-5.6		-3,665,512	-12.07
North West	-602,607	-0.1		+2,686,364	+0.48
South East	-31,910,429	-4.8		-45,090,444	-6.90
Cornwall	-24,945,241	-4.7		-34,575,044	-6.28
Devon	-29,905,100	-3.1		-30,013,430	-3.07
West Midlands	-10,758,457	-0.8		-69,468,523	-5.07
Yorks & Humberside	-17,343,382	-2.6		-25,476,453	-3.84
ENGLAND	-273,154,806	-2.9		-465,296,297	-4.98
WALES	-42,526,744	-2.7		-88,662,083	-5.64
SCOTLAND	+3,723,617	+0.3		+41,985,016	+3.29
NORTHERN IRELAND	+66,549,118	+3.7		+74,758,583	+4.04
UK	-245,408,815	-1.8		-437,214,781	-3.11

Average quota holding size

The figures below show the average change in individual quota holdings in Great Britain between the 04/05 and 05/06 quota years. The data shows that individuals holding 1.75-2 million litres of quota have increased by an average of 6.5% - equivalent to an average increase of 115,000 litres - between the 04/05 and 05/06 quota years. Individuals holding less than half a million litres in the 05/06 quota year reduced their net holding by an average of 19.4% from 04/05, equivalent to a 67,595 litre reduction. For further information, please see backdata sheet.

NET QUOTA HELD ( MILLION LITRES)	<0.5	0.5-0.75	0.75-1	1-1.25	1.25-1.5	1.5-1.75	1.75-2	2-3	>3
AVERAGE HOLDING 2004/05	0.348	0.663	0.950	1.096	1.307	1.593	1.753	2.266	4.077
AVERAGE HOLDING 2005/06	0.280	0.632	0.875	1.112	1.369	1.612	1.868	2.390	4.231
AVERAGE CHANGE (MILLION LITRES)	-0.067	-0.032	-0.075	+0.016	+0.062	+0.019	+0.115	+0.124	+0.154
AVERAGE CHANGE %	-19.4%	-4.8%	-7.9%	+1.4%	+4.8%	+1.2%	+6.5%	+5.5%	+3.8%
TOTAL NUMBER OF PRODUCERS IN CATEGORY	5,891	3,227	1,450	1,351	846	541	339	484	186

* Provisional
Source: RPA