Brazil Led and Uruguay Trailed Regional Milk-Maize Ratios
A DairyLando monitoring report compared milk prices, maize values and other production variables in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. Its July 2026 figures showed that the amount of maize obtainable with a litre of milk varied substantially across the four markets.
Brazil ranked first, with one litre of milk equivalent to 2.64kg of maize. Argentina followed at 1.97kg, narrowly ahead of Chile at 1.94kg. Uruguay ranked last, at 1.66kg. The gap between Brazil and Uruguay was therefore almost 1kg of maize for each litre sold.
The report also measured raw-milk prices in US dollars. Brazil had the highest reported price, at $0.562 per litre, followed by Chile at $0.520. Uruguay recorded $0.414, while Argentina had the lowest figure, at $0.356. Brazil thus combined the highest milk price with the strongest milk-to-maize ratio.
The comparison did not represent a complete measure of farm profitability. Results also depend on labour, land, energy, total feed costs, production scale, productivity and financing arrangements. National average prices can additionally conceal differences between regions, buyers and milk-quality categories.
Argentina’s figures showed why the two measures can produce different rankings. Although its milk price was the lowest in the comparison, its 1.97kg ratio was second-highest. Uruguay received more per litre than Argentina but could purchase less maize with that revenue. The report said that the price received by Uruguayan farmers had recently lost ground relative to monitored costs.
Chile’s milk price was second-highest, while its maize ratio was slightly below Argentina’s. For part of the Chilean analysis, DairyLando used wheat rather than soy because of the country’s production structure. The monitoring used January 2025 as a baseline, set at 1, to track prices and inputs over time. It reported the largest relative deterioration in Argentina, where the local milk price had remained almost unchanged since mid-2025 while several costs continued to change. Brazil later recorded a more pronounced recovery in the milk price, Uruguay followed a steadier path before a recent weakening against costs, and Chile retained a comparatively more favourable trend.
