A favourable French dairy industry ahead
Be it small, an increase in milk collections, favourable tendencies in dairy consumption and more confidence among the producers themselves, the French economic institute for the dairy industry, CNIEL, sees a number of encouraging developments for the future of the sector.
In 2024, France produced just over 23 billion litres of milk, an increase of 1.3% compared to the previous year. “After a continuous decline between 2020 and 2023, this is the first yearly increase,” economic director Jean-Marc Chaumet said. That rebound is directly reflected in the production of dairy.
France produced a little under 1.77 million tonnes of cheese from cows’ milk, an increase of 1.7%, 488,000 tonnes of dried milk powder as well as 353,500 tonnes of butter. The production of lactoserum powder was even 4.9% higher at 432,000 tonnes.
“The small rebound in production benefits both the national market and the export. In 2024, the export of French dairy products increased by 2.5% to a value of €3.2 billion,” Chaumet said, pointing out that dairy markets are ‘globally dynamic’, driven mainly by the export basins on the south side of the globe.
However, in the US, dairy production is under severe stress because of the problems with avian influenza in cattle. “In our own country, we see a slight decrease in the last few weeks of the year due to the effects of the ongoing epidemics of EHD and bluetongue,” he adds.
The results of the latest ‘social barometer’ survey CNIEL carried out among 850 dairy farmers in the country also give reason for optimism. “Despite all the problems they encounter in the field, with too much rain in many regions as well as the pressure of all the animal diseases, 55.5% describes the situation as very well, which is just slightly less than the 56.9% the year before,” economic director Benoît Rouyer signals.
Over the last 5 years, the mood among farmers has improved on aspects like their view of the future and their attachment to the job.
Other dairy discussions
On the other hand, farmers are more worried about the strenuousness of their work, as well as labour costs. Nevertheless, 59% think that their dairy farm offers positive perspectives for the future, a big improvement compared to the 41% who thought so 5 years ago. Moreover, thanks to the continuous discussions in the press and politics about the plight of the French farmers, both the general public and decision-makers are much more aware of their work and efforts to feed the nation.
Dairy consumer
CNIEL also notices an encouraging trend on the French consumer market. Last year, consumption of dairy products increased by 0.8% in volume. Despite the ongoing inflation and the crisis in the costs of living of the last few years, French consumers haven’t lost their appetite for dairy.
“They’re still affordable and also offer pleasure and excellent taste,” the organisation thinks. French dairy producers also notice that consumers buy less of the cheaper home brands from the supermarkets, a trend that emerged strongly after the pandemic, and prefer the big names of dairy although they are sometimes slightly more expensive.
“It’s up to us together with the whole dairy industry to build on these encouraging signs,” CNIEL president Pascal le Brun said. “First job: attract more young farmers to the sector so that production can keep up with demand, both nationally and internationally. Here, the dairy sector, as the whole farming world in France, can profit from a recently approved new National Law on Farming, which offers, among many other things, extensive support for new entrants to the farming industry.”
