ORIL reviews the cost and price structure for the country's dairy sector

The administrator of the Office for the Regulation of the Dairy Industry (ORIL), Jorge Campos Merced, held administrative public hearings to evaluate the full structure of operating costs that governs dairies and fresh-milk processing plants in Puerto Rico. The technical review answers the livestock sector's petitions in the face of the rise in imported concentrated feed for cattle, veterinary medicines, and electric rates.

Representatives of the Milk Sector of the Puerto Rico Farmers Association testified that dairy producers in Hatillo, Arecibo, San Sebastián, and Camuy operate with extremely tight financial margins. Volatility in the cost of fuel for refrigerated transport and instability in the electric supply provided by LUMA Energy and Genera PR raise, day by day, the cost of mechanical milking and of cooling the raw-milk tanks.

Administrator Jorge Campos Merced assured that any adjustment in the price paid to the farmer and in the margin of the processing plants, such as Suiza Dairy and INDULAC, will seek to safeguard the viability of the country's principal agricultural industry without unduly harming the pocketbooks of consuming families. The dairy sector accounts for more than a third of the gross value of Puerto Rico's agricultural production.

Source: Primera Hora. https://www.primerahora.com/noticias/puerto-rico/notas/oril-revisa-precios-y-costos-del-sector-lechero-ganaderos/