GB milk deliveries remained at just over 37m litres per day on average for the week ending 4 May 2019, only marginally lower than the average volumes delivered in the previous week. Deliveries are currently running 0.2% above our latest forecast, and 3.0% above the same week last year, equivalent to 1.1m litres more per day.
The drop in average daily deliveries suggests peak production was reached during the week ending 27 April, earlier than recent years. A long-term high of 37.74m litres was delivered on 26 and 27 April.
Temperatures for April were above the UK long-term average, whilst rainfall was below average, providing ideal conditions for pastures. This allowed herds to be let onto grass earlier than in previous years, and supporting yields. Throughout most of the month, deliveries were typically more than 4% higher than last year.
Whilst average deliveries stabilised in the first week of May, it may be that the lower yields were because of the cold weather rather than moving past the peak. In most years, milk delivery volumes start to decrease from the third week ofMay onwards.
