Output rose 19% in March and 12% in the first quarter UK production of butter and cheese during the first quarter of this year showed contrasting trends. Butter make was down to 33,300 tonnes, over 3% less than in the same period last year, although the decline was down to 1% in March. The trends on cheese were more dramatic with total UK output rising in March by 19% and in the first quarter by nearly 12%. Growth from one year to the next on this scale is unusual and experts are pointing to the fact these higher levels of output are virtually the same as in the same period in 1999. March output was, in fact, 1% less than in March 1999 and output in the first quarter this year was still nearly 4% less than in the first quarter of 1999. What it would seem is that output levels are not unusually high this year but that they were unusually low last year. One reason for the recovery in cheese making this year was the higher levels of milk deliveries from farms in the first quarter of the year. Another was the continued decline in the use of milk for the liquid milk market. Combining the use of whole and skim milk by dairies, output of liquid milk fell sharply by nearly 5% in the first three months, only about 1% of this decline being due to the leap year effect in 2000. The lower demand for liquid milk released additional volumes of milk for manufacture, most of which went into cheese. {{M/E CANNED GOODS }}

Topics