Status: 04/14/2023 1:16 p.m
The daily glass of milk is being drunk less and less, per capita consumption is at a new record low. And even with butter and cheese, things continue to go downhill. Reasons are high prices and the boom in plant-based alternatives.
Last year, people in Germany drank less milk than they had in more than 30 years. Milk consumption per capita was around 46.1 kilograms, which corresponds to a decrease of 1.9 percent compared to the previous year. This is the lowest value since records began in 1991, according to preliminary figures from the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE).
Consumption of butter and cheese is also falling
The figures show that the consumption of other dairy products is also declining: annual butter consumption has fallen by 12.6 percent and was just under 5.3 kilograms per capita last year. Cheese consumption has also fallen from 25.3 kilograms in 2021 to 24.6 kilograms last year. Only in the case of dairy products containing protein, which are required for sports nutrition and baking mixes, for example, has per capita consumption increased by almost four percent to 610 grams.
According to the BLE, the decline in milk consumption is due to higher milk prices and increasing sales of plant-based milk substitutes such as oat milk.
1900 fewer dairy farms than in the previous year
The decline in milk consumption also affects milk production in Germany. According to the BLE, the amount of milk produced fell by more than six percent last year to around 4.2 million tons.
The number of farms with dairy cows fell from 54,800 to 52,900, according to BLE data. The number of cows decreased by around 23,000 animals, which means that each dairy farm kept an average of 72 dairy cows. On the other hand, the average annual milk yield per cow rose again slightly: from 8,481 kg to 8,499 kg.