The National Supply Company (Conab) will purchase 2,500 tons of powdered milk – a volume equivalent to around 20 million liters of whole milk – from family farming associations and cooperatives.
The investment could reach R$106 million. The announcement of the measure was made this Tuesday (23) by the president of the state-owned company, Edegar Pretto. The initiative, according to Pretto, is intended to “downsize” production and return prices paid to producers to higher levels.
“What we seek with this action is to strengthen family farming dairy production, acquiring the surplus to guarantee income for workers, maintaining a strategic activity for the country and, at the same time, ensuring access to quality food for people in situations of food and nutritional insecurity”, stated the president of the federal government company.
Brazil is the third largest milk producer in the world, with production concentrated in the states of Minas Gerais, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, which, together, account for around 70% of national production. Last year alone, the country produced 35.6 billion liters of milk.
Currently, the reference value established by the Minimum Price Guarantee Policy (PGPM) is R$1.88 per liter, while the average price charged by the market is around R$2.22 per liter. When purchasing from Conab, considering that, on average, eight liters of whole milk are needed to produce one kilo of powdered milk, in addition to operating costs, the Company will pay around R$41.89 per kilo of product.
The acquisition will be carried out within the scope of the Food Acquisition Program (PAA), in the Institutional Purchase (CI) modality. Conab will publish the notice on its website this Tuesday. Producers will be able to register until Sunday (28) and offer available products.
Family farmers, through associations, cooperatives and other formally constituted organizations in the states of Santa Catarina, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Alagoas, Sergipe and Goiás, will be able to submit proposals.
“Our production chain has been strongly impacted by price and market issues. This measure brings an important relief, as we were facing difficulties in transporting milk to the industry in recent days. We are satisfied with this initiative from the Federal Government, as we understand that it will allow the resumption of the flow of production to the industry”, said the president of the Regional Cooperative of Settlers of Fronteira Oeste (Cooperforte), in Santana do Livramento, Elio Müller.
