Bulgaria: Persistent trend for increase of processed milk

The total milk output in Bulgaria

The total milk output in Bulgaria in 2020 was 975,810,000 l. Of that, 275,862,000 l was direct sales, own consumption and other uses in the farms. Producers and processers making  direct supplies of small quantities of raw produce, sold 81,089,000 l of raw or processed milk, which included 68,854,000 l of cow’s milk (84.9%) and 8,588,000 l sheep milk (10.6%).

Raw milk

Raw milk sold directly to consumers totaled 50,680,000 l and the processed milk 30,409,000 l. The direct sales included also 1,509 t white brined cheese, 320 t of yellow cheese, 4,526 t of yoghurt and other dairy products.

The recent years are seeing a persistent upward trend with the quantity of milk processed in Bulgaria. In 2020, it stood at 717 mln t for raw milk (including supplies from EU member states and imports from third countries), which is a growth of 5% from 2019. 

Cow’s milk had the lion’s share. In 2020, sheep milk came second with a share of 3.5%, which was a growth of 7.8% year-on-year.

Goat milk was third but the increase there was 12% compared to 2019. The output of buffalo and mixed milk decreased by 6.3%.

The quantity of raw milk imported from EU member states and third countries, that was processed in Bulgaria, stood at close to 17,000 t. 

The output of white brined cheese from cow’s milk grew by 5.7% and of yellow cheese by 7.6% compared to 2019.
In 2020, the sales of dairy processing companies totaled BGN 1.26 billion, which was 10% more than in 2019. 

Source: Agri.bg