Per capita consumption of milk in New Zealand 2017-2022
New Zealand’s dairy obsession
The high milk consumption rate may have a lot to do with the country’s agricultural and dairy farming roots. The dairy sector contributes around 12 billion New Zealand dollars to the country’s economy each year, and directly employed over 40 thousand people nationwide. Fresh milk is not the only dairy product consumed in substantial quantities - New Zealanders were also among the biggest consumers of butter globally. New Zealand has a reputation for producing high quality milk and milk products. Recently, however, this reputation has been tarnished due to contamination scares and environmental challenges.
Dairy export market
Unlike many other dairy producing nations, New Zealand exported most of the milk produced in the country – around 95 percent. Of the almost 22 million metric tons that were produced in 2019, only around 525 thousand metric tons were domestically consumed. Due to New Zealand being geographically distant from its export partners, the whole milk powder segment was by far the most dominant.