The volume of milk delivered to co-ops took a 22% tumble between January 2023 and the same month in 2024, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This represents a year-on-year fall of 40.4m litres and the deceases rises to 24% when looking at January 2022.

Fat content for January 2024 remained unchanged at 4.50%, while protein fell from 3.50% to 3.48% over the one-month comparison window.

Overall, 2023’s milk intake at processors fell 4.2% on 2022’s volume – a drop of 366.3m litres between the two years.

This was the first reduction in milk output witnessed in Ireland in 11 years.

Sharpest fall

It was also the sharpest yearly fall in milk output witnessed across any of the major EU dairy producers, as Germany, Poland and the Netherlands all increased output over 2023, while France’s fell 2.7% and Italy’s reduced by 1.9%.

The CSO figures come as Irish Creamy Milk Suppliers’ Association dairy committee chair Noel Murphy told co-ops that a “badly needed confidence boost” is needed by farmers in February's milk prices.