The UK is the thirteenth-largest milk producer in the world. Milk accounted for 16.4% of total agricultural output in the UK in 2020 and was worth £4.4bn in market prices. The total number of UK dairy cows has fallen from 2.6 million in 1996 to 1.9 million in 2020, a 28% reduction. The UK produced 15.3 billion litres of milk in 2020, the highest annual figure since 1990. In 2019, the UK recorded a trade surplus in volume terms for dairy for the first time since records began 1997. This surplus continued in 2020 although it reduced in size. In 2020, the UK had a negative trade balance in butter and cheese, but a positive trade balance in milk and cream. Farm-gate milk prices for June 2021 were 30.4 pence per litre, up from a low of 21.5 ppl in August 2016. Between 1995 and today, doorstep delivery has declined from 45% to 3% of the retail milk market, despite increases during the pandemic. Supply chains were disrupted following the lockdown imposed to suppress the coronavirus outbreak in March 2020. Milk prices recovered later in the year. Exports of dairy products to the EU decreased following the end of the EU Exit transition period.

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