Brazilian Dairy Farms Set Milk Productivity Record Despite Fewer Cows
Brazilian dairy farms increased output per milked cow for the third consecutive year, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Productivity reached 2,498.7 litres per cow in 2025, up 5.6% from the previous year. IBGE cited favourable weather, investment in herd genetics and a reorganisation of the production base among the factors associated with the increase.
The reorganisation included the departure of producers, particularly those with less specialised operations or fewer resources. Octavio Costa de Oliveira, an analyst involved in the survey, said dairy farming requires spending on labour and technology. “Large producers have the capacity to make these investments,” he said.
The South had the highest average productivity, at about 4,300 litres per cow. It was followed by the Southeast at 2,900 litres, the Central-West at 2,000, the Northeast at 1,700 and the North at 957 litres. The value of Brazil’s milk production reached 89.5bn reais in 2025, measured at prices for the reference year and therefore excluding inflation, an annual increase of 2.3%. The average price paid per litre was 2.44 reais, unchanged from 2024. Industry received 75.2% of the milk; the remainder went to uses including household consumption and artisanal cheese-making.
Brazil produced 36.7bn litres of milk during the year. The South accounted for 34% of national production and the Southeast for 33.5%, followed by the Northeast with 18%, the Central-West with 9.8% and the North with 4.6%. Minas Gerais was the leading state, producing 10.1bn litres. Paraná produced 4.8bn litres, Rio Grande do Sul 4.2bn, Santa Catarina 3.4bn and Goiás 2.9bn.
Castro, in Paraná’s Campos Gerais region, was the leading municipality, with 532.8m litres. Carambeí, also in Paraná, produced 306.8m litres. The other municipalities among the ten largest producers were Patos de Minas, Patrocínio, Lagoa Formosa and Coromandel in Minas Gerais; Orizona in Goiás; Arapoti in Paraná; Itaíba in Pernambuco; and Poço Redondo in Sergipe. Their respective output ranged from 130.6m to 249.2m litres.
IBGE’s livestock survey recorded a total production value of 141.2bn reais across livestock and aquaculture in 2025, 6.2% more than in 2024. Cow’s milk represented 63.4% of that value. Brazil is the world’s sixth-largest milk producer and has the third-largest population of milked cows.
The cattle herd moved in the opposite direction from milk productivity, falling for a second consecutive year to 234.3m head, its lowest level since 2022, when it stood at 234.9m. Oliveira said the decline reflected the livestock cycle and the slaughter of female cattle in previous years. He said producers sometimes slaughter females when beef prices are attractive, while the price of calves may not encourage herd replacement. São Félix do Xingu, in Pará, had the largest municipal herd, at 2.7m head.
Other records were reported in the same survey. The number of chickens and related poultry reached 1.6bn birds, up 1.6% year on year, while the number of hens reached 293.3m. Egg production rose 5.7% to 5.7bn dozen. Oliveira associated egg demand with its role as a more affordable substitute for meat proteins, as well as interest in healthy eating and use by the pasta industry. Beef exports in natura increased 21.4% by volume and 42.5% by value; China received 53.3% of Brazil’s exports. Goat and sheep populations reached 13.5m and 22.3m, honey production was 71,300 tonnes, shrimp output was 172,400 tonnes and fish production rose 7.1% to 783,000 tonnes, with tilapia accounting for almost 70%.
