The Belgian dairy industry produces more fresh dairy products and butter than 4 years ago (2019)

Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, publishes today the annual dairy statistics for 2019. These show that our country mainly produces more fresh dairy products and butter compared to 2015. The production of farm butter has increased by 41 % over 4 years. 19 % more fresh dairy products were also produced, with yoghurt registering the sharpest increase (33 %). Goat's cheese is also on the rise (93 %), although its production share in Belgium is, with 10,000 tonnes, rather small. As for drinking milk, semi-skimmed milk is produced the most, although its production has decreased by 18 % since 2015. It is mainly the increase of whole milk (23 %) that stands out in the last 4 years.

Drinking milk remains the largest product group

In 2019, the total production of drinking milk (chocolate milk and milk with added vitamins included) amounted to 856 million litres. This is slightly less (-5 %) than 4 years ago. The production of semi-skimmed milk (-18 %) and buttermilk (-13 %) in particular has decreased compared to 2015, while that of whole milk has increased by 23 %. As for milk drinks, the production of chocolate milk remained more or less unchanged these past 4 years (+1 %), and 10 % more milk with added vitamins were produced.

Dairy production in Belgium (2006-2019)

The production of fresh dairy products increases the most

The fresh dairy products are the second largest group in the Belgian dairy industry, with 649 million litres, i.e. an increase of 19 % compared to 2015. The sharpest increase these past 4 years was registered by yoghurt, with 33 %. Other dairy products are also on the rise: fermented milk (22 %), consumer cream (15 %) and desserts (17 %).

Twice as much farm butter as blended butter

In 2019, the overall production of butter increased by 18 % compared to 2015. This is mainly due to the sharp increase of farm butter. In 4 years time almost 20,000 tonnes more farm butter were produced, an increase of 41 %. The production of blended butter decreased by -11 % compared to 2015.

The production of goat’s cheese soars

In 2019, some 104,000 tonnes of cheese were produced in Belgium, including 97,000 tonnes of natural cheese. For natural cheese, this is an increase of 17 % over 4 years. The production of soft cheese has sharply decreased since 2015 (-43 %). The production of goat's cheese in particular presents high rates of increase: 93 % compared to 2015. Although the share of goat's cheese production remains very limited, with 9 % of total cheese production, in 2015 this share was only 5 %. In order to produce almost 10,000 tonnes of goat's cheese, 73 million litres of goat's milk were collected in Belgium and abroad. The share of Belgium's own goat's milk is limited to 59 %.

Less ice cream, more milk powder

In the remaining categories, the production of consumer ice cream is declining. While in 2015, 71,000 litres of ice cream were still produced, in 2019, only 66,000 litres were produced, i.e. a decrease of 7 %.

Milk powder registers new increases, particularly for unskimmed milk powder (40 % more than in 2015) and for the category ‘other’, including a.o. baby food and sports drinks.

Finally, the production of condensed milk and whey decreased by 59 % compared to 2015.

For the production of milk powder (246,000 tonnes), cheese (105,000 tonnes), butter (96,000 tonnes) and condensed milk and whey (29,000 tonnes), 4.8 billion litres cow’s milk were used, as well as 157 million litres cream and 98 million litres skimmed milk (including imported deliveries).