Uruguay’s farm-gate milk price falls to $0.41 per litre
Data from Uruguay’s National Dairy Institute (Inale) put the average farm-gate milk price at $0.41 per litre in July. That was 5.1% below the level recorded in July 2025 and 2.6% lower than in December. In local currency, producers received an average of 16.7 pesos per litre, unchanged from December 2025 but 5.2% below the figure for the same month a year earlier.
The monthly comparison also showed a decline. The average price fell by 1.4% in pesos and 1.3% in dollars from June. Inale attributed the movement mainly to a lower solids content in the milk, while the payment per kilogram of solids changed little during the month. That measure stood at 209.2 pesos per kilogram, down 0.3% from June.
Over longer comparison periods, the price per kilogram of solids fell by 4.9% from December and by 6.9% year on year. The figures come as Uruguay’s dairy industry prepares for the seasonal rise in milk deliveries associated with spring. The additional supply must be processed by companies and placed on domestic or export markets.
Conaprole, Uruguay’s largest dairy cooperative, said it would not change its producer payment in August or September. Gabriel Fernández, the cooperative’s president, said the financial year running from August 2025 to July 2026 would close with a profit and that Conaprole intended to use the result to maintain the milk price in the following months.
“We prefer to use what remains from the financial year to provide stability and avoid having to lower the price,” Mr Fernández said. Conaprole said it hoped to extend the unchanged price for as long as possible, potentially through the end of 2026, but its management said there were not yet grounds to guarantee that timetable. The approach differs from the previous financial year, when the cooperative made subsequent price adjustments.
Other processors have set different arrangements for the expected increase in supply. Claldy told its suppliers that from August to November it would pay the base price for volumes within each producer’s average delivery between April and July. Milk delivered above that benchmark would receive 80% of the base price. The company cited a 10% increase in deliveries during the first half of the year and lower international quotations.
Recent trading data provided a positive movement for powdered milk. At the latest Global Dairy Trade Pulse auction, whole milk powder rose by 2.5% to $3,625 a tonne, while skimmed milk powder increased by 7.3% to $3,584. The gap between the two products narrowed to $41 a tonne, the smallest recorded difference in the data cited. Whole milk powder is particularly significant for Uruguay because of its share of the country’s export basket.
Butter and anhydrous milk fat continued to record declines at the same auction. Mr Fernández had previously identified a stabilisation of whole milk powder near $3,500 a tonne as a favourable development; the latest result placed the product above $3,600. Uruguay’s processors are entering the seasonal production peak while a substantial part of the additional milk is destined for export markets.
