Dairy production in Belgium up 20%

The Belgian dairy industry last year produced 20% more milk than in 2013, reports Het Nieuwsblad based on figures from the FPS Economy. It is not yet clear whether the increase will affect dairy prices, writes the newspaper.

The increase is especially noticeable in products such as butter, milk powder and condensed milk. Cheese production also increased in the last year, but only by 6%.

In 2014 the Belgian dairy industry produced about 886 million litres of milk, chocolate milk and fortified milk. Fresh dairy products such as yoghurt, fermented milk drinks, cream and desserts accounted for a production volume of 500,000 tons.

The industry also produced larger amounts of milk powder (190,000 tons), cheese (81,000 tons), unsweetened condensed milk and whey (81,000 tons) and butter (42,000 tons). Their production required about 4 billion litres of milk, 147 million litres of cream and 66 million gallons of skim milk.

Semi-skimmed milk remains the most consumed milk drink in Belgium, with a 33% share of the market, followed by whole milk (14%).