Türkiye’s dairy sector reports growth amid market challenges

TURKIYE – The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has reported a significant increase in cow’s milk collection, reaching 1.1 million tonnes in March, a 13.2% surge from February’s 897,358 tonnes.

Compared to March last year, milk collection rose by 2.9%, while the January-March period saw a 1.4% increase over the same period in 2024.

Dairy product outputs showed mixed trends.  Fresh milk production increased by 6.2%, butter and ghee output grew by 1.8%, and cheese from cow’s milk edged up by 0.9%. However, yoghurt production dipped by 1.0%, and ayran and kefir production fell slightly by 0.4%.

For the first quarter of 2025, dairy production trends varied. Ayran and kefir production increased by 3.8%, yoghurt output rose by 2.0%, fresh milk production grew by 1.1%, and butter and ghee production saw a modest 0.9% rise. In contrast, cheese production from cow’s milk declined by 0.4% compared to the same period last year.

Turkey records low dairy production

The high milk production comes two years after the sector recorded low dairy output due to high inflation and the depreciation of the Turkish lira.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, raw milk production declined significantly over the past four years, with total output dropping from 25.3 million tonnes in 2020 to 23.2 million in 2021, before dropping by a further 7.1% to 21.56 million tonnes in 2022. Production was 21.48 million tonnes in 2023.

The production decline was most pronounced in cow and buffalo milk. Cow milk was 21.7 million tonnes in 2020, then dropped to 21.37 million tonnes in 2021, and then to 19.91 million tonnes in 2022, before recovering slightly to 19.96 million tonnes in 2023.

Additionally, buffalo milk dropped from 63,767 tonnes in 2020 to 43,025 tonnes in 2023. For sheep milk, production marginally increased in 2021 from the previous year to 1.14 million tonnes, then dropped to 1.067 million tonnes in 2022, and to 933,576 tonnes in 2023.

Goat milk production increased from 589,617 tonnes in 2020 to 622,785 tonnes in 2021, then declined in 2022  at 540,426 tonnes, increasing to 543,058 tonnes in 2023.

Türkiye, one of the top 10 milk producers worldwide, exports its dairy products in the Middle East and Central Asia, while emerging markets are the EU, Russia, and China, particularly for milk powder, whey powder, cheese and ice cream.

According to SETBIR, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the top export destinations for Turkish cheese. There are 39 dairy farms permitted to export to the EU, nine to Russia, and 75 to China.

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