According to preliminary calculations by the Federal Information Centre for Agriculture (BZL), per capita consumption of liquid milk in Germany in 2025 stood at just over 45 kilograms – around one kilogram less than in the previous year. Cheese and butter, on the other hand, became more popular: around one kilogramme of cheese and one packet of butter (250 grams) more were consumed than in 2024.

According to the BZL’s milk supply balance, domestic producers supplied around 31.6m tons of milk to German dairies in 2025. This was just over one per cent more than in the previous year. Among other things, this was used to produce 4m tons of liquid milk, 2.8mn tons of cheese and 518,100 tons of butter, as well as milk fat and milk spread products (in product weight).

The volume of liquid milk produced fell for the fifth consecutive year, this time by 2.6 per cent. Calculated consumption fell by around one kilogram to 45.1 kilograms per capita. The self-sufficiency rate remained virtually unchanged in 2025 at 106.3 per cent (previous year: 106.6 per cent).

The production volume of butter, milk fat and milk spread products rose by 9.4 per cent in 2025. Calculated per capita consumption rose by 250 grams to 5.6 kilograms (in product weight). The increase in production, the fall in imports (-7.9 per cent) and the rise in exports (+5.2 per cent) led overall to a higher self-sufficiency rate of 111.5 per cent (2024: 106.6 per cent).

Cheese production rose slightly from 2.74 (2024) to 2.76m tons. Per capita consumption increased for most cheese products (hard, sliced and soft cheeses, and particularly cream cheese). The exceptions were pasta filata and processed cheese. Overall, citizens consumed 26.4 kilograms of cheese per person, once again just under a kilogram more than in the previous year. The self-sufficiency rate fell to 125 per cent (previous year: 129 per cent).

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