Conaprole of Uruguay Approves US$5 Million Milk Price Retroactive Payment

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 10, the board of directors of Conaprole, Uruguay's national dairy producers' cooperative, approved an additional payment of US$5 million to member dairy farmers as a milk price retroactive payment for the period from August to October 2026. The payment is being disbursed as a special subsidy, calculated on the basis of verified milk supply volume, equivalent to approximately 0.38 Uruguayan pesos per liter of milk. The first installment is scheduled to be paid on November 17 together with the final settlement payment for September milk.

This retroactive payment covers all producers who retained cooperative member milk supply eligibility as of October 31, 2026. The actual amount received by each producer will be calculated based on the verified milk supply volume and corresponding milk solids volume during the August to October period. Of the payment amount, 60% may be freely used by producers, while the remaining 40% will be handled in accordance with the cooperative's relevant settlement arrangements. This payment constitutes a phased retroactive adjustment to the milk price and does not represent a permanent increase in the base purchase price.

This decision is related to rising production and operating costs in Uruguay's dairy industry and the decline in the real purchasing power of raw milk. Data from Uruguay's National Institute of Milk Research show that in September 2026, local dairy processing enterprises paid an average raw milk price of 16.48 Uruguayan pesos per liter, down 5.1% year-on-year; after adjusting for inflation, the year-on-year decline reached 9.3%. During the same period, the milk purchasing power index fell to 92.5 points, down 9.4% from the same period last year and down 13.4% from the phased high in April 2025.

Over the past year, production costs for Uruguayan dairy farms have risen by approximately 5% in local currency, mainly due to increases in the prices of concentrated feed and fuel. The decline in raw milk prices, combined with rising costs for feed and transportation, has put pressure on dairy farmers' operating profits. The US$5 million retroactive payment will be distributed according to each member's actual milk supply, providing cooperative producers with additional settlement income.