Milk utilisation by dairies
Source: gov.uk (2025-04-03)

Monthly statistics on milk used by dairies.

In the United Kingdom most of the milk produced is bought and processed by dairy companies. This series includes publications covering the volume of milk used by dairies in England and Wales and the UK in the production of drinking milk and milk products such as cheese, butter and milk powders. Other publications give UK production, overseas trade and supplies of drinking milk and milk products and the size distribution of dairy enterprises.

Following user consultation, new methodology was implemented in January 2018. The new methodology was first used to produce the November 2017 statistics published on 11 January 2018 when National Statistics accreditation status was reinstated.

Key methodology improvements and changes

Direct sales, which accounted for less than 1% of available milk are no longer reported.

England and Wales dataset is now a raised estimate of total utilisation.

Updated factors used to convert milk into finished product

More details on the methodology and changes can be found in the November 2017 statistics notice (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678245/milkutil-statsnotice-11jan18.pdf),

The new methodology was applied to statistics from January 2015 to allow comparisons between the new and old datasets.

Related series:
- UK farm-gate milk prices (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs/series/milk-prices-and-composition)
User Engagement

Data from the milk utilisation by dairies (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/milk-utilisation-by-dairies) statistics is an invaluable evidence base for policy makers, academics and researchers. The data is also heavily relied upon by the dairy industry, in particular the division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) known as DairyCo (who represent milk producers) and Dairy UK (who represent milk processors). The milk utilisation by dairies (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/milk-utilisation-by-dairies) data is used for providing insight into market characteristics and to monitor where milk is being used for domestic production. It provides insight to how production of products (such as butter, cheese etc.) changes in response to changes in global demand and market conditions.

As part of our ongoing commitment to compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/) we wish to strengthen our engagement with users of milk utilisation by dairies (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/milk-utilisation-by-dairies) data and better understand the use made of them and the types of decisions that they inform. Consequently, we invite users to register as a user (https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=UCQKdycCYkyQx044U38RAvMEgOxhWuZCpr9kfPf834FURDgwVDQ0Sk1KV0VROVQ4WUdQMTY1SFgxVC4u) of the milk utilisation by dairies (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/milk-utilisation-by-dairies) data, so that we can retain your details and inform you of any new releases and provide you with the opportunity to take part in user engagement activities that we may run. If you would like to register as a user of the milk utilisation by dairies (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/milk-utilisation-by-dairies) data, please provide your details in the attached form (https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=UCQKdycCYkyQx044U38RAvMEgOxhWuZCpr9kfPf834FURDgwVDQ0Sk1KV0VROVQ4WUdQMTY1SFgxVC4u).