Imports and exports
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EU export of dairy products to countries outside the EU
In 1988, the EU exported 437,000 tonnes of butter outside its borders, with a value of €282m.
While the quantity has not reached such a high since then, the value has exceeded 1988 figures, with a peak of €534m in 2015. The lowest figure for butter export was in 1994, when just 90,000 tonnes were exported, bringing in €168m.
The cheeses category has fared better on both counts. In 1988, the amount of cheese leaving the EU was 405,000 tonnes, for a value of €892m. The numbers have steadily risen, with 716,000 tonnes exported in 2015, and a value of €3.47bn. However, the value has dropped slightly, as it peaked at €3.77bn in 2013.
Skim milk powder (SMP) has seen highs and lows. In 1988, 616,000 tonnes were exported, but this steadily declined to reach only 89,000 tonnes in 2006. A recovery since then has seen exports increase, to a high in 2015 of 686,000 tonnes.
In 1988, SMP was worth €703m to EU exporters; in 2015 that had risen to €1.5bn.
Whey powder has seen a remarkable rise, from 30,000 tonnes in 1988 to 537,000 in 2015. In 1988, the value was €28m; by 2015 it had reached €721m.
Lactose shows a similar trend, with a tripling of quantity (56,000 tonnes in 1988 to 166,000 in 2015) and an almost six-fold increase in value (€37m to €207m).
EU import of dairy products from countries outside the EU
For butter, EU countries imported 76,000 tonnes from outside of its borders in 1988, for a total of €191m. Imports peaked in 2003, with 112,000 tonnes of imports, at a cost of €192m. Since then, imports have declined drastically to stand at only 8,000 tonnes in 2015, and just €22m value.
Cheese imports also have dropped. In 1988, 115,000 tonnes were imported, rising to 176,000 in 2003. By 2015, a historical low of 61,000 tonnes were imported.
The value, however, has remained somewhat similar, with €450m of imports in 1988 compared to €433m in 2015. The value peaked in 2001 at €647m.
SMP imports went from a mere 5,000 tonnes in 1988 to a high of 94,000 in 2003 – they now stand at 3,000 tonnes. Values of SMP imports show a similar pattern, €4m in 1988, a high of €133m in 2003, and €6m in 2015.
While the amount of lactose imported has stayed similar (2,000 tonnes in 1988 compared to 4,000 tonnes in 2015), the value has risen sharply, from €1m to €14m over the corresponding period.
Caseins have also proved costly for EU importers, second only to cheese, with values of €89m in 1988, and €137m in 2015.
Other categories covered by the data include fresh, butteroil, WMP and condensed.
For the full set of EMMO data, for both imports and exports for all years from 1988 to 2015, click here.