Drinking Milk Sales

In 2018–19, Australians drank 2,484,000 million litres of cows’ milk, an increase of more than 750,000 litres since 1989–90.

In Australia, cows’ milk is sold as regular or full cream milk, low-fat milk, skim milk, flavoured milk and ultra heat treatment (UHT) or long life milk.

Regular milk has a milkfat content of between 3.4% and 3.6%, while low-fat and skim milks are modified to contain less than 1.5 per cent and 0.15 percent milkfat, respectively.

The cream removed during modification can be bottled as table cream or manufactured into butter or other dairy products.

The fat and protein composition of milk changes throughout the course of a season. For this reason, most milk is standardised to ensure a consistent taste and nutritional profile all year-round.

Drinking milk generally undergoes further processing in the form of homogenisation, which disperses the fat equally throughout the milk rather than allowing it to separate at the top.

Drinking milk sales by state (million litres)

YEAR	NSW	VIC	QLD	SA	WA	TAS	AUST
1989–90	582	449	316	150	164	47	1,730
1999–00	597	440	383	185	190	48	1,933
2000–01	633	456	393	201	20	50	1,934
2001–02	625	460	403	186	200	50	1,924
2002–03	620	475	404	183	208	52	1,942
2003–04	627	476	418	196	212	52	1,981
2004–05	641	486	429	200	215	53	2,024
2005–06	660	499	444	192	216	50	2,061
2006–07	692	510	474	201	226	53	2,156
2007–08	682	524	485	205	237	55	2,188
2008–09	696	533	495	208	241	56	2,229
2009–10	709	545	499	213	247	57	2,269
2010–11	715	566	502	213	262	58	2,316
2011–12	721	582	531	221	274	58	2,387
2012–13	719	600	563	222	280	61	2.445
2013-14	711	612	584	221	279	59	2,466
2014–15	715	625	581	222	285	61	2,489
2015-16	732	637	583	222	285	61	2,520
2016–17	723	635	579	227	284	60	2,508
2017–18	719	627	583	224	282	60	2,495
2018–19	710	637	581	219	278	59	2,484

Drinking milk sales by type (million litres)

YEAR	Regular	Reduced	Low-Fat	Flavoured	UHT	Total
1989–90	1,257	322	-	111	40	1,730
1999–00	1,099	498	-	173	164	1,933
2000–01	1,094	415	95	165	165	1,934
2001–02	1,074	435	105	170	140	1,924
2002–03	1,055	440	120	174	153	1,942
2003–04	1,057	462	118	190	154	1,981
2004–05	1,063	492	116	199	154	2,024
2005–06	1,092	488	124	201	155	2,061
2006–07	1,107	530	124	214	182	2,156
2007–08	1,119	552	122	213	183	2,188
2008–09	1,136	570	117	210	196	2,229
2009–10	1,134	592	117	215	211	2,269
2010–11	1,140	632	109	227	208	2,316
2011–12	1,160	679	104	236	208	2,387
2012–13	1,172	690	100	240	243	2,445
2013-14	1,193	690	93	240	250	2,466
2014–15	1,244	661	87	240	257	2,489
2015-16	1,311	617	80	246	266	2,520
2016–17	1,365	567	71	247	258	2,508
2017–18	1,398	539	64	242	252	2,495
2018–19	1,417	521	63	234	249	2,484