Analysis of Milk Supply and Trade Balance in the EU-27

The purpose of the paper is the analysis of the EU-27 milk supply balance and milk trade balance in order to present the largest milk producers, exporters and importers and the coverage degree of milk supply by production, imports, exports and stock changes, using the data provided by FAO Stat, 2009-2010 for the reference period 2003-2005.The EU-27 milk supply balance accounted for 116,229 thou tons of which 54.5 % is assured by Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Poland, Netherlands and Romania. A number of 22 EU countries registered a self sufficiency degree higher than 100 %, at the EU-27 level its performance being 132 %. About 67 % milk it achieved in Germany, France, United Kingdom, Poland, Italy and Netherlands, which are the EU largest milk producers. The EU-27 trade balance is a positive one, exports exceeding imports by 10,448 thou tons milk. The main EU milk exporters are France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark and Poland. The main EU milk importers are Germany, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain and France. The EU production is enough for covering milk demand and export the surplus to other countries.