The Austrian Dairy Association VÖM has changed its name to the Austrian Milk Association MVÖ in order to emphasise its stronger focus on the unique foodstuff milk, sustainability in all its facets and security of supply. In particular, cooperation with upstream and downstream companies and organisations in the dairy industry is to be intensified in order to achieve greater effectiveness.
MVÖ reported today on the development of the industry in 2023 and currently at a press conference in Vienna:
Total deliveries increased by 1% to 3.53m tons in 2023. The share of reached 18% (18.6%) or 584,000 tons, which is the highest organic milk share in the EU.
The average milk price rose by 3.2% to 58.52c in 2023 (2022: 56.72c) for milk with natural ingredients incl. VAT. An average of 49.06c was achieved for GMO-free milk (2022: 46.97c; for milk with 4.0% fat, 3.4% protein, excluding VAT), in April 2024 it was 46.83c (April 2023: 51.72c).
The turnover of Austrian dairies increased by a total of around 4.5% to €3.97bn in 2023, primarily due to price developments, with growth recorded in both domestic sales and exports.
In 2023, processing took place in 71 (previous year: 75) companies with 92 (previous year: 99) operations and 5,750 (previous year: 5,700) employees. According to an analysis by the Raiffeisen Association Upper Austria, the earnings situation of Austrian dairies remains very tight with earnings before taxes (EBT) of 0.05% in relation to turnover, and for some it was negative.
The number of dairy farmers fell by 3.3% from 23,178 to 22,419 in 2023.
Based on preliminary figures from Statistics Austria, Austrian milk exports reached a new high of €1.73bn in 2023 and continued to grow by 0.9 %. Imports grew more strongly to €1.13bn (up 5.1%), resulting in a positive foreign trade balance of €602m (- 6.1%). The export ratio in relation to turnover was therefore around 44%, while the import ratio was 28.4%.
The most important export product was cheese: 171,000 tons (-5.3%) were exported for €920m (up 2.1%) at an average value of € 5.36/kg, while 135,000 tons (+1.9%) were imported for €696m (+9.8%) at an average value of €5.17/kg. Liquid dairy products were exported at a value of €384m and imported at €102m, fermented products were exported at €233m and imported at €67m. In the case of butter, exports totalled €28m and imports €120m.
Fig.: Vectorporal.com
