The average purchase price of raw milk in Estonia was €321.3 per ton in March, up 41.3 percent from March 2016. Dairy companies purchased 60,500 tons of milk during March, roughly as much as during the same month last year.

Compared to February, the purchase price of milk decreased by 1.3 percent while the amount purchased was greater by 11.2 percent.

The output of drinking milk remained unchanged from March 2016 at 8,600 tons. Cream output increased five percent to 2,100 tons while the output of soured milk remained flat at 3,500 tons.

Butter output dropped 20 percent to 400 tons while the output of cheese declined 5.3 percent on year to 3,600 tons.

Meat prices increase on year

Estonian meat processing companies purchased 2,737 tons of pork at an average price of €1.58 per kilogram in March, marking a 16-cent or 11.6 percent increase over March 2016.

Beef purchases totaled 720 tons, with an average purchase price of €2.09 per kilogram, 12 cents or 6.3 percent higher than the year before.

A kilogram of mutton and goat meat, a total of 2.6 tons of which was purchased, cost an average of €3.14, 27 cents or 9.1 percent more than in March 2016.

Authorized meat processing companies slaughtered 47,100 pigs, 2,900 heads of cattle and 400 sheep last month.