EU farms produced an estimated 161.8 million tonnes of raw milk in 2024, marking a modest year-on-year increase of 0.9 million tonnes. Output has grown consistently over the past decade, adding more than 12 million tonnes compared with 2014. According to Eurostat’s latest milk and dairy products dataset, most of this volume was delivered to dairies, where it was processed into fresh dairy goods and high-value manufactured products.

Cheese and butter remained the dominant outlets for EU milk. Eurostat data shows that 59.9 million tonnes of whole milk and 17.0 million tonnes of skimmed milk were required to produce 10.8 million tonnes of cheese in 2024. Butter and related yellow fats absorbed another 44.2 million tonnes of whole milk, generating 2.3 million tonnes of finished product and leaving 41.5 million tonnes of skimmed milk.

Germany led EU production of drinking milk (18.8%), acidified milk products (27.1%), butter (20.6%) and cheese (22.5%). Spain followed in drinking milk, while France ranked second in both butter and cheese output. The Netherlands and Poland were key producers of acidified milk products, and Ireland remained a major butter supplier.

Over the past ten years, the EU’s raw milk output has risen steadily from 149.7 million tonnes in 2014, shaped by evolving consumption patterns, export demand and ongoing shifts in herd structure and farm consolidation.