Milk: Imports

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many litres of milk a day were imported on average in each of the last five years. (322357)

[holding answer 15 March 2010]: Imports of liquid milk are shown in the tables.

Liquid milk is imported into the UK in two forms, as raw milk for processing by dairies (table 1), or as liquid drinking milk (e.g. pasteurised or UHT milk) (table 2).

Raw milk is only traded across the Irish border; imports come from the Republic of Ireland for processing by dairies in Northern Ireland.

*Table 1: UK imports of raw milk for processing, 2005 to 2009 (all imports across the Irish border)*
	Imported per year (1,000 litres)	Average imported per day (1,000 litres)¹
2005	45,589	125
2006	33,278	91
2007	57,109	156
2008	48,516	133
2009	82,774	227
¹ Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000 litres. Source: DARDNI

*Table 2: UK imports of liquid drinking milk, 2005 to 2009*¹
	Imported per year (1,000 litres)	Average imported per day (1,000 litres)²
2005	47,066	129
2006	84,406	231
2007	87,668	240
2008	134,068	366
2009¹	89,420	245
¹ 2009 data is subject to amendments. ² Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000 litres. Source: H M Revenue and Customs

Volume 507: debated on Wednesday 17 March 2010