Source : ESANE 2013

€27.2
billion

  (dairy industry revenues)

298,000 jobs
across France

Sources : CNIEL, based on ESANE, FADN and the Agreste annual dairy survey

Source : Eurostat/French Customs 2013

+€3.6 
billion

trade surplus in 2013

Source : Eurostat / Agreste

Europe’s 2nd

largest milk

producer

 after Germany

Milk produced throughout France

61 733 dairy farms delivering cow’s milk

Source : Agreste annual dairy survey 2015

Source : Agreste’s provisional agricultural accounts (2013)

Dairy product:

€8.7 billion
production
in absolute value

13% of total
agricultural production

France’s dairy livestock
 

• 3.6 million dairy cows
  (60% Holstein, known as Prim’Holstein in France)
• 1.2 million dairy sheep
• 850,000 goats

        Source : Agreste (2015)

A typical French dairy farm

• 52 dairy cows
• 330,000 litres of milk produced annually
• 88 hectares, including 32 ha of pasture
• 54% run as farm companies (as “GAEC” collectives or “EARL” limited companies)

Sources: FADN/FranceAgriMer/Agreste annual dairy survey

A typical cow:           

• Weighs  600Kg
• Produces 6,800 litres of milk annually (5,700 in 2000)
• Produces up to 30 litres of milk daily
• Drinks 80 to 100 litres of water daily during lactation
• Eats 70 kg of forages and cereals daily

                                                        Source : FADN 2011

23.7 billion

litres of cow’s milk

collected in 2012

• 97% of collected milk comes from cows
• France represents nearly 20% of cow’s milk in Europe

Source : Agreste monthly dairy survey/Eurostat (2013)

Milk is collected

on average every

48 hours

Milk collection in France
 

• 54% by cooperatives
• 46% by private companies

Source : FNCL

1.9% of collected milk is organic

Source : Annual Agreste dairy survey (2012)

Around 650 milk processing plants (500 companies)

5 French groups rank in the global dairy
top 25

Source : CNIEL

99% of milk
processed in France comes from French farms

Source: CNIEL, based on Eurostat (2012)

French milk is processed:

Source: CNIEL, based on FranceAgriMer (2012)

75% of milk
is transformed
into consumer
dairy products

(milks, yoghurts, milk drinks, cheeses, butter and cream)

Use of milk in France

Source: CNIEL, based on FranceAgriMer (2013)

Source: CNIEL, based on FranceAgriMer (2012))

25% of milk

is transformed

into intermediate

products

(used in the food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries)

Production in 2011:

Liquid milk: 3.5 billion litres
Cheese: 1.9 million tonnes
Cream: 365,000 tonnes
Butter + concentrated butter: 
407,000 tonnes
Yoghurts and dairy desserts:
2.4 million tonnes
Powdered milk: 478,000 tonnes

Source: Annual dairy survey

How much milk is needed?:

• 1 kg of butter = 22 litres of milk
• 1 kg of Emmental = 12 litres of milk
• 1 Camembert (250 g) = 2 litres of milk
• 1 kg of powdered skimmed milk = 10.6 litres of milk

Source: L’Economie Laitière en Chiffres (The Dairy Economy in Figures)

Around 1,200

cheeses

50 French AOC
including 49 AOP

Source : CNAOL

Source: CSA study (2012)

Dairy products: France’s favourite foods, along with fruit and vegetables

Source: CNIEL, based on Eurostat (2012)

Around 60%

of dairy products

made in France

are consumed

by the French

1 French person buys on average:

Source: CNIEL, based on KantarWorlPanel (2013)

Source : The World Dairy Situation (2013)

France is:

• The world’s largest consumer of butter
• The world's largest consumer of cheeses

Source: CCAF (2010)

80% of French

people aged 3-75

consume dairy products

every day

9% consume little or
no dairy products

Source: CNIEL, based on Symphony IRI (2011)

Dairy products represent 14% of food expenditures in France

Source: Eurostat (2003/2013)

Trade surplus

for dairy

products:

+71% in 10 years

France exported €6.6 billion of dairy products in 2016

Source : Eurostat (2016)

4 out of 10 litres

of milk collected in

France are exported

Source: CNIEL, based on Eurostat (2012)

Source : Eurostat (2013)

67% of exports

of dairy

products are

to the European

market.

Source : Eurostat (2016)

Italy:
largest buyer

of French butter

Germany:
largest buyer

of French cheeses

Source : CNIEL / FAO

Global consumption

of dairy products is

growing by 2.5%

annually,

driven by

emerging countries.

3 dairy products

daily

Recommended by the French national nutrition program (PNNS)

Contents of 1 glass of semi-skimmed milk (150 ml):

+ minerals, vitamins and trace elements

3 dairy products

cover 60% of

daily calcium

needs

Dairy products are:

• The main source of calcium, phosphorous, potassium, iodine and vitamin B2
• The second-largest source of vitamins B12, B4, D, A and zinc.

3 dairy products

1969 : the French

“Godefroy” law

introduced milk tariffs

based on composition

and quality

Source : Charter for Good Agricultural Practices

90% of cow

breeders have

signed the French

Charter for Good

Agricultural

Practices

13 dairy laboratories

120 million analyses
 

Source : CNIEL

1 dairy herd: at least 3 random milk analyses monthly

The Dairy Economy in Figures  

     World dairy atlas