Milk deliveries in Britain are on track with forecasted volumes despite on-farm disposals due to the impact of the coronavirus, figures show.
Daily milk deliveries to processors were 36.09m litres on average in the 7 days ending 11 April, according to data analysed by AHDB.
This is an increase of 1.4 percent on the previous weekly average and in line with industry forecasts.
Delivery volumes continue to rise as the peak is approached, gradually approaching last year’s levels.
For the most recent week (4-11 April), average deliveries were 2.3% below the same week last year, AHDB's lead dairy analyst Patty Clayton said.
This compares to a gap of 3.0% on average through March, bringing production closer to levels seen last year, she added.
These figures take into account the non-collection of milk by some processors during the week, for which farmers will not be paid.
Ms Clayton said this is estimated to be in the region of 800-900k litres, representing about 0.6% of total milk delivered in the week ending 11 April.
The milk was disposed of over 5 and 6 of April, and there have been no reports of uncollected or discarded milk since then, she added.
According to AHDB, there were also reports of some milk collected off farms but not fully processed by the milk buyer during the week.
While the fat component of the milk was utilised, some of the skim will have ended up in anaerobic digesters helping to generate energy, Ms Clayton explained.
Over the last few weeks, some processors have implemented schemes to address the imbalance between supply and lower consumer demand resulting from the temporary closure of the foodservice market.
These have included voluntary production reduction, A&B pricing, direct price cuts or a combination of these measures.
