Floods in Argentina impacted milk production and transportation [News South America n°1/2017]

Period: December 26, 2016 – January 6, 2017

Argentina and Uruguay

• Milk production: manufacturing milk volumes are less than adequate for most processing needs.
• Weather situation: a strong storm generated floods in the central region of Argentina and some areas of Uruguay. This impacted on milk production and transportation.
• Overall market situation: some orders have been delayed due to the heavy rains. Cheese, yogurt, and milk caramel processing are less active. Bottled milk requests are fair to good. Butter churning is steady and exports are active.

  In Uruguay, milk prices paid to milk producers in November were 8.91 Uruguayan pesos (UYU) per liter (about $0.31/liter or 28,78€/100l), down 0.1%

  from last month, but 19.2% above the previous year.

Brazil

• Milk production: milk output is seasonally lower in Southern Brazil. Overall, there is a milk supply shortage to cover all manufacturing needs.
• Overall market situation: domestic milk demand from processors is strong. In addition, WMP and SMP imports from nearby countries remain very active. Demand for bottled milk is light to moderate. Cheese manufacturing continues strong and inventories are becoming slightly higher. Spot milk prices per liter increased from 1.17 to 1.27 Brazilian reals (BRL) (about $0.39/liter or 37.12€/100l). In December, the average gross price received by dairy farmers was 1.30 Brazilian reals (BRL) per liter (about $0.40/liter or 37.99€/100l), down 3.2% from the previous month, but 23.2% above a year ago.

MILK DELIVERIES

• Argentina: -12.12% (Jan-Nov 2016 year-over-year)
• Uruguay: -10.93% (Jan-Nov 2016 y-o-y)
• Brazil: -5.08% (Jan-Sep 2016 y-o-y)
• Chile: -1.75% (Jan-Nov 2016 y-o-y)

SMP prices for 1,25% butterfat: 2,250 – 2,500 USD/MT, F.O.B. port (about 2,148 – 2,386 €/MT).
pricing is shifting up, in line with the recent upward trend at the GDT. SMP demand from the food processing industry is fair to strong. With lower condensed skim supplies throughout the region, SMP output has been somewhat irregular.

WMP prices for 26% butterfat: 2,775 – 3,425 USD/MT, F.O.B. port (about 2,630 – 3,269 €/MT).
prices are slightly down, following the recent downward trend at the GDT. Manufacturing milk volumes are becoming slightly tight throughout the region. Consequently, WMP processing is less active. Inventories are steady to slightly lower.

CLAL.it – Milk deliveries in Argentina

Source: USDA summarized by the CLAL Team
Note: assessments about market trend are expressed in US$
More informations about dairy market in Argentina, Brazil and Chile are available on CLAL.it