Production increase for fresh dairy products of Belgian dairy farms in 2021

Compared to the last five years (period 2016-2020), Belgian dairy farms register a significant increase in fresh dairy products and farm butter, whereas the production of drinking milk and milk powder shows a significant decrease. The production of natural cheese stagnates in 2021.

Compared to the previous period, 2021 shows an increase in the production of condensed milk of no less than 76% and 14% for farm butter. Fresh dairy products show an increase of almost 11%. The production of goat’s cheese decreases by 15%.

Drinking milk is the main product group

Drinking milk, milk drinks and fresh dairy products are the most important products in the Belgian dairy industry. In 2021, the total production of drinking milk (chocolate milk and milk with added vitamins included) amounted to 831 million litres.

As for drinking milk, semi-skimmed milk is produced the most, although its production has decreased by 11% in 2021 compared to the last 5 years. The increase in whole milk and buttermilk of 5% each is particularly striking. As for milk drinks, the production of chocolate milk increased by 18%, whereas the production of milk with added vitamins fell by 45%.

The production of fermented milk increases the most

Fresh dairy products such as yoghurt, fermented milk drinks, cream and desserts are the second largest category in the Belgian dairy production with a total production volume of 683 million litres. Here, too, there is a sustained growth of 10% in 2021 compared to the previous five years.

Notable increases can be observed in the production of fermented milk, desserts and cream with 16%, 9% and 7% respectively. The production increase of yoghurt remains limited to 3%.

Production of farm butter twice as high as blended butter

Butter production in 2021 amounts to 91,000 tonnes. This is an overall decrease of 3% compared to the previous 5 years. The 32% decrease in blended butter is compensated by a 14% increase in farm butter.

Cheese production rises further

In 2021, some 109,000 tonnes of cheese were produced in Belgium, including 97,000 tonnes of natural cheese. During the last period, the production of natural cheese remained at the same level. However, the production of fresh cheese has increased by 42%, mainly due to an increase of 65% in the past year. The production of goat’s cheese decreases by 15% compared to the last 5 years. The production share of goat's cheese remains very limited. In order to produce 7,400 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 48%.

More condensed milk, less milk powder and ice cream

In the remaining categories, the production of consumer ice cream is declining. While in 2016, 74,000 litres of ice cream were still produced, in 2021, only 64,000 litres were produced, i.e. a decrease of 8% over the average productions of the period 2016-2020.

In milk powder production there is a noticeable drop of 7%, mainly due to the lower production of unskimmed milk powder by 25% and skimmed milk powder by 4% compared to the last 5 years. The other milk powders experienced an increase of 9%. They include high-quality raw materials for the food industry such as baby food and sports food.

Finally, for condensed milk and whey there is a noticeable increase of no less than 76% in 2021.