Brazil Would Need 11bn Litres More Milk to Match Argentina’s Cheese Consumption
Brazil’s average annual cheese consumption is 6.5kg per person, according to figures presented at a meeting of the dairy chain in Curitiba. The corresponding figures are almost 12kg in Argentina, 19.1kg in the United States and 21.7kg in France.
Valter Galan, an agricultural engineer at market-intelligence firm MilkPoint Ventures, presented the comparison online at the fourth meeting of the technical group responsible for Paraná’s Milk Production Chain Development Plan, known as PDCL. The meeting was held at the headquarters of Ocepar, the state’s organisation representing cooperatives.
Galan said that if Brazil reached Argentina’s level of cheese consumption, the market would require a further 11bn litres of milk each year. He said the issue was not a lack of technology, noting that the protein and fat percentages in Brazilian milk were practically unchanged from 20 years ago.
“It is not a lack of technology or a lack of signalling about what is wanted in milk quality, but it is one of the major challenges on which the market needs to act together,” Galan said. He identified producers and processors as the main participants in addressing the issue.
The meeting was chaired by Elias Zydek, president of the Paraná Association of Dairy and Derivative Product Industries and head of Frimesa Cooperativa Central. Zydek said the group had addressed production at its first meeting, the market at its second and the industrial sector at its latest stage. Dairy-industry representatives were invited to describe their companies and the difficulties they face.
Galan’s presentation also showed a shift in the geography of Brazil’s milk production. In 1990, the Southeast accounted for 47.8% of national output and the South for 22.5%. By 2024, the South led with 33.6%, while the Southeast represented 33%. Paraná accounted for 13% of national production, compared with 27% for Minas Gerais.
Alexandre Monteiro, the technical coordinator of the group and an Ocepar technical-development analyst, said the PDCL was intended to bring existing efforts together rather than necessarily create new ones. “The idea is not necessarily to invent new things, although some new things have emerged in the latest meetings, but we want convergence, to converge the actions and try to add together what we have been discussing for the milk chain,” he said.
Zydek said the next stage would be to prepare a draft of the plan and convene a forum for all participants in the chain to submit suggestions before the final text is completed. He said the plan should be presented as the work of the production chain and serve as guidance for bodies responsible for coordinating and inspecting production, conducting research and helping processors optimise their assets. The stated objective is to make Paraná’s dairy chain more competitive and increase its exports.
