The domestic milk intake by milk processors and co-ops was estimated at 1.07 billion litres in April 2025, according to a new report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This represents an increase of 120.4 million litres (12.6%) when compared with April 2024 and up 44.4 million litres (+4.3%) when compared with the same month in 2023.

Stephanie Kelleher, statistician in the Agriculture Section of the CSO said that the data shows that fat content for April 2025 was 4.08%, down from 4.27% in April 2024.

She said that protein content also rose from 3.27% to 3.47% in the 12 months to April 2025.

According to the CSO, the total milk sold for human consumption was 40.1 million litres, which was slightly down on the previous year (40.2 million).

Kelleher said: "For the period January to April 2025, domestic milk intake was estimated at 2.38 billion litres, a rise of 175 million litres (7.9%) when compared with the same period in 2024, but down by 6.3 million litres (0.3%) when compared with 2023.

"Skimmed milk powder production was up by 3,500 tonnes from 13,200 tonnes in April 2024 to 16,700 tonnes in April 2025," Kelleher added.

In other news, last week (May 30), data released by the CSO showed that food prices are estimated to have risen by more than 4% since last year.

The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for Ireland is estimated to have risen by 1.4% in the 12 months to May 2025 and remained unchanged since April 2025.

This compares with HICP inflation of 2% in Ireland in the 12 months to April 2025 and an annual increase of 2.2% in the HICP for the eurozone in the same period.

Looking at the components of the flash HICP for Ireland in May 2025, food prices are estimated to have increased by 1% in the last month and by +4.1% in the last 12 months.