October 2, 2009
UK dairy market dominated by big players
Larger dairy units have an increasing share of the UK milk industry, according to data by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).
RPA milk production data for 2008-09 identified 3,484 dairy farms, or 28 percent of the industry, producing more than one million litres of milk per year. This accounts for 59 percent of the British milk supply.
Compared to 2007-08, the number of farms of that size had declined by 384 or 10 percent.
In 2008-09, the 5,008 farms or 40 percent of the industry produced less than 500,000 litres of milk per year. That accounts for just 13 percent of total British milk supply. The number of farms this size also dropped 3,433 from five years ago.
Since 2004-05, the share of national milk supply from farms producing over two million litres a year also rose from 14 percent to 23 percent.
