Eurostat data shows that we are producing less milk compared to 2015.
EU farms produced an estimated 160.0 million tonnes of raw milk in 2022, down 0.3 million tonnes year-on-year. This relative stability contrasts with steady production growth for the first time since 2010, meaning milk produced in the EU is falling, Eurostat research shows.
The majority of raw milk (149.9 million tonnes) was delivered to dairies, with the remainder used directly on farms to produce a range of fresh and processed dairy products.
Production in Bulgaria
Bulgaria is in 14th place in the EU in yogurt production.
The data show that in 2015, when the statistics were kept, our country produced 76.71 million tons of drinking milk, 121.94 million tons of yogurt, 0.97 tons of butter and 76 tons of cheese.
Figures in the latest year for which data is available, 2022, show that we produce a smaller amount of milk – 68.14 million tons, but we have increased the amount of yogurt – 141.03 million tons, 1.34 million tons of butter and 97.60 million tons of cheese.
The biggest manufacturers
Among the EU countries Germany is the largest producer of drinking milk (19% of the EU total), butter (20%), fermented milk products such as yogurt (29%) and cheese (22%). France is the second largest producer of both butter and cheese (18% of the total for each product).
Germany, along with Spain (15% of the EU total), France (13%), Italy (11%) and Poland (9%), representing two thirds of the drinking milk produced in the EU in 2022.
The Netherlands is the second largest producer of acidified dairy products in the EU (15% of the total), the fourth largest producer of cheese (9%) and the fifth largest butter (10%), while Ireland is the third largest producer of butter (13% of the total in the EU) and the fifth largest producer of acidified dairy products (7%).
Tags: Milk decreasing Bulgaria remains #14th place terms production
