Before, at market time, it was common to find a liter of milk with a average price of $3,800. Now that same bag is not below $5,500 pesos. This implies an increase of $1,700 for the same product.
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In the country, dairy products have not escaped inflation, which has had a direct impact on the basic basket of Colombians.
In the last year, according to data from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), the price of milk paid by consumers has increased to national level 32.12 percent and only so far in 2022 the increase is 18.52 percent.
In this sense, if in April of last year the range for buying a liter of milk was between a minimum of 2,200 pesos, in the case of the establishments’ own brands, and a maximum of 3,800 pesos on average, for the most recognized in the market, today these same ones are among 3,200 and 5,500 pesos
Popayán: the most affected city
Although the impact is at the national level, the blow is concentrated in some cities of the country. Among them, Popayán, which is the hardest hit. In the last 12 months, buying a liter of milk in the capital of the department of Cauca has risen up to 40.08 percent.
Hernán Garcés Sandoval, manager of the Cattle Ranchers Committee of Cauca, explains that due to the blockades of the national strike last year, up to 12 million liters were not marketed, which mainly affected small producers in this area of the country.
Popayan is followed Manizales, Villavicencio, Bogota and Bucaramanga. “75 percent of the producers have an average of 5 animals. Many of them had to sell them to be able to take the bread home,” Garcés stressed.
In the case of Manizales, consumer prices for a liter of milk have risen 36.08 percent in the last year, according to the statistical entity. In Villavicencio the increase has been 35.76 percent and in Bogotá 34.56 percent.
Other cities with considerable increases in the price of milk, even above the national increase are Bucaramanga, with a variation of 34.25 percent compared to April last year; in Pereira the rise has been 34.21 percent; in Armenia 33.01 percent; and in Medellin 32.53 percent.
Apart from milk, the Dane also measures the price increase of other dairy products. For example, cheeses have risen 22.54 percent in the last year; other derivatives – where products such as yogurts are found – have presented an increase of 16.85 percent compared to last year; cow butter has risen 25.89 percent; and margarines another 13 percent.
Why is the price of milk going up?
There are several reasons that have caused costs to increase. Initially, the rise in fertilizer and concentrate prices for animals has affected the dairy sector.
Inputs that are used in the field for a cow to produce milk have had a significant increase due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Another factor is the effect of the national strike that the country witnessed in 2022. The producers assure that the blockades in May and June of last year generated a cut in the productive cycle of the cows that has repercussions until today.
“The productive cycle of a dairy cow is annual. When you cut it because you don’t give it food, the bulk of that entire cycle is lost. That greatly affected the supply of milk. The national strike generated important cuts in the production cycles in specialized livestock farms”, explained the representative of Fedegán-FNC.
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Finally, it is attributed to greater amount of water in pastures by climate. With the La Niña Phenomenon, characterized by a considerable increase in rainfall, the production of pastures was filled with water and this also affected production.
BRIEFCASE
With information from EL TIEMPO*
