Milk production stays within UK’s quota

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has received end of year details from milk purchasers and direct sellers of the amount of milk which was produced for sale in 2013/14.

The RPA has confirmed that there will be no wholesale or direct sales levy for the 2013/14 quota year.

The United Kingdom wholesale milk deliveries totalled 13.7 billion litres – 1.6 billion litres under the national wholesale quota. The UK’s direct sales amounted to 109.7 million litres – 33 million litres under the national direct sales quota. The wholesale delivery figures have been adjusted for butterfat content.

The UK has not exceeded the national milk quota levels set by the European Union for 2013/14. The EU has the power to impose a levy but because UK producers have remained under the limit, there will be no wholesale or direct sales levy for the 2013/14 quota year.

This data is based on end of year declarations and the provisional outcome is subject to amendment in the light of inspection of purchasers’ and producers’ annual returns.

In addition, any business that buys raw or bulk milk direct from farmers has a duty to report the amount they buy on a monthly basis, so the industry can see how deliveries are running compared to the UK’s quota allocation during the year. These indicative figures are published on the GOV.UK website at the beginning of each month.