14.5% milk jump despite market slump

Milk production has faltered in Germany and France, but the slowdown in two major EU producers didn’t prevent the GlobalDairyTrade index falling on Tuesday to its lowest level since July 2009.

Milk production since EU quotas ended on April 1 has fallen behind last year’s levels in France by 2.6% and in Germany by 1.1%.

German dairy farmers say their average production costs in January were 45.64 cents/kg of milk, and they were paid only 31.03 cents. As a result, farmers there are cutting back production.