Provisional RPA figures show that 1,226 million litres of milk were delivered to dairies in the second month of the 2008/09 milk year in the UK. This is 87 million litres (7.6%) more than in April, although production in May was 32 million litres (2.5%) below May 2007 when production stood at 1,258 million litres. Cumulatively production for the first two months of the 2008/09 milk year stands at 2,366 million litres, 3.9% - 96 million litres below the same time last year.

Provisional figures for May 2008 in GB show that deliveries stand at 1,027 million litres, this is 2.9% - 31 million litres below deliveries in May 2007. Northern Ireland (NI) saw milk production for May at 199 million litres, a million litres (0.5%) below May 2007 production of 200 million litres.

It will be interesting to see if milk production now falls away, as is historically the case or whether it flattens off more gradually.

Wholesale Deliveries to Dairies (not butterfat adjusted)
Source: Defra/RPA

million litres	2001/2	2002/3	2003/4	2004/5	2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9
Apr	1,168	1,273	1,271	1,209	1,206	1,191	1,204	1,139
May	1,305	1,354	1,367	1,305	1,279	1,275	1,258	1,226
Jun	1,220	1,216	1,266	1,208	1,187	1,178	1,147
Jul	1,188	1,199	1,232	1,203	1,163	1,155	1,098
Aug	1,136	1,139	1,181	1,143	1,136	1,103	1,074
Sep	1,061	1,071	1,101	1,074	1,067	1,059	1,027
Oct	1,075	1,076	1,116	1,074	1,077	1,072	1,042
Nov	1,065	1,025	1,071	1,045	1,030	1,032	1,014
Dec	1,138	1,105	1,127	1,115	1,098	1,095	1,069
Jan	1,175	1,141	1,127	1,142	1,135	1,130	1,101
Feb	1,085	1,049	1,054	1,051	1,045	1,020	1,044
Mar	1,229	1,213	1,152	1,198	1,179	1,170	1,137
Total	13,844	13,862	14,063*	13,766	13,601	13,481	13,215**

*The actual figure is 14,027 as the cumulative figure has to be adjusted because of the leap year
**The actual figure is 13,176 as the cumulative figure has to be adjusted because of the leap year Provisional

CUMULATIVE MILK SUPPLY (not butterfat adjusted)
Source: Defra/RPA

million litres	2001/2	2002/3	2003/4	2004/5	2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9
Apr	1,168	1,273	1,271	1,209	1,206	1,191	1,204	1,139
May	2,473	2,627	2,637	2,515	2,486	2,466	2,462	2,366
Jun	3,693	3,843	3,904	3,722	3,672	3,644	3,609
Jul	4,881	5,042	5,136	4,925	4,835	4,799	4,708
Aug	6,017	6,181	6,316	6,068	5,971	5,903	5,782
Sep	7,079	7,252	7,417	7,142	7,038	6,962	6,808
Oct	8,153	8,328	8,533	8,215	8,115	8,033	7,850
Nov	9,218	9,353	9,604	9,260	9,145	9,066	8,864
Dec	10,355	10,458	10,731	10,375	10,243	10,161	9,933
Jan	11,530	11,599	11,858	11,516	11,376	11,290	11,034
Feb	12,615	12,648	12,912	12,568	12,423	12,310	12,078
Mar	13,844	13,862	14,063*	13,766	13,601	13,481	13,215**

 

*The actual figure is 14,027 as the cumulative figure has to be adjusted because of the leap year
**The actual figure is 13,176 as the cumulative figure has to be adjusted because of the leap year Provisional

million litres	UK		GB		NI
	2007/8	2008/9	2007/8	2008/9	2007/8	2008/9
Apr	1,204	1,139	1,023	964	180	176
May	1,258	1,226	1,058	1,027	200	199
Jun	1,147		963		184
Jul	1,098		925		173
Aug	1,074		917		157
Sep	1,027		888		138
Oct	1,042		903		139
Nov	1,014		878		136
Dec	1,069		922		147
Jan	1,101		945		155
Feb	1,044		893		151
Mar	1,137		967		170
Total	13,215		11,285		1,930

Note: Figures are rounded up or down.
*The actual figure is 13,176 as the cumulative figure has to be adjusted because of the leap year
#The actual figure is 11,218 as the cumulative figure has to be adjusted because of the leap year
##The actual figure is 1,958 as the cumulative figure has to be adjusted because of the leap year Provisional