However, the outlook for Dairy Ireland was “somewhat mixed, with Irish dairy ingredients strongly ahead compared with a loss in 2009, consumer products behind in the context of a very tough trading environment and agribusiness marginally ahead of a difficult 2009”, said group md John Moloney.

Global dairy markets “recovered somewhat unevenly in the first half”, he said. “Commodity prices declined in the early months, stabilised in March and improved throughout the second quarter. Markets now appear to have peaked and are expected to trend lower in the second half.”

While weak milk supply was a dominant feature in the first half, milk production was beginning to increase in the main producing regions and was expected to continue to do so for the rest of the year and into 2011, he predicted.

Growth in performance and sports nutrition, protein fortification and more mainstream bars and beverages were creating strong demand for whey, he added.

“In the first half, Global Nutritionals continued to see volume growth driven by new product development of customer/market-led science-based nutritional solutions and the expansion of Performance Nutrition.”