THE TRANSFORMATION OF MILK AND THE RESULT S OF ITS UTILIZATION

Since the introduction of milk quotas, the French dairy cow population has regularly declined to a value of 4,7 million in 1993. The total p roduction of milk has also declined, although to a lesser extent, even though individual production per cow has increased. There are 212 000 dairy farms with an average of less than 26 cows per herd. The econom ic importance of the transformation of milk into milk products has inc reased, especially the part taken by the fabrication of cheese (40 p. cent of the bill). The importance of fresh products has also increased while liquid milk has remained stable and butter and milk powder have declined. In terms of volume, the main product from the transformatio n of milk remains the fabrication of butter and cheese. The production of cheese and of fermented and liquid milk has increased, and the fab rication of butter and milk powder has declined. French external comme rce for milk products is very important, with a positive results which reached, in 1992, 14 p. cent of the total for the food-production sec tor. Cheeses represent 46 p. cent of this result, while the value for butter has recently become negative. Consumption of milk products in F rance is static, with a small increase in the demand for fresh product s, cheese and ice-cream.