Dairy Sector

Vision for the Irish dairy sector

To be the world's most trusted exporter of sustainably driven and technically advanced high-quality dairy products to customers worldwide. 

Overall performance

Irish dairy exports were valued at a record €7.3 billion in 2025, representing an increase of 14% versus 2024. Over 1.6 million tonnes of
product shipped to approximately 140 markets worldwide. 

Underpinning this value growth was a strong performance at farm level, with the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reporting milk collections on track for a record year of approximately 8.8 billion litres. Good weather conditions in the spring and summer months supported grass
growth during the critical peak milk period and contributed to collections running 6% ahead of 2024 for the January to September period (CSO, 2025d). 

After four consecutive years of supply growth at less than 1%, high global dairy commodity prices in the first six months of 2025 coupled with favourable weather conditions saw milk supply in key exporting regions grow by 2.6% in 2025 (StoneX, 2025).

Trends by top key products

Prospects for 2026

From a milk supply perspective, 2025 will be seen as an almost optimal year from a weather perspective, hence upside potential in milk supplies in 2026 is unlikely. 

The European Commission’s announcement on December 9th 2025 confirming the continued availability of a nitrates derogation, subject to the terms of the 6th Nitrates Action Plan, has provided welcome medium-term confidence around the outlook for Irish milk collections through to 2028.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) reports that in June 2025, the number of dairy cows in the national herd decreased by 36,000 compared to the previous year, bringing the total to 1,590,000 dairy cows (CSO, 2025a)

The European Commission’s medium-term outlook predicted that EU milk production will decline as the ongoing fall in dairy cow numbers is no longer offset by increasing milk yields, resulting in a -0.2% annual decrease in the milk pool (EU Commission, 2024).

According to Rabobank, global milk supply growth is expected to maintain momentum into 2026, although at a moderate pace of 0.4% year-on-year (YOY) (Rabobank, 2025a).