Turkey's milk production down 0.8 pct in November 2018

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's cow milk production fell by 0.8 percent in November 2018 year-on-year, the country's statistical authority said on Thursday.

TurkStat said in a statement that the amount of cow milk collected by the integrated dairies was 743,427 tons in the month.

Official figures showed that drinking milk production also saw an annual decline in November -- down 9.9 percent to 131,655 tons.

In the same month, Turkey produced 56,323 tons cheese, 97.4 percent of which was made from cow milk as the rest was produced from sheep, goat, buffalo and mixed milk.

"Yoghurt production became 91,755 tons in November and decreased by 0.5 percent when compared to the same month of the previous year.

"Production of the salty yoghurt drink, ayran, became 57,836 tons and increased by 0.5 percent when compared to the same month of the previous year," TurkStat said.

The institute added that the average fat rate of cow's milk collected by integrated dairies was 3.4 percent, while the average rate of protein was 3.1 percent in November.

On Feb. 13, TurkStat will release annual figures about milk and milk products for the year of 2018.