Milk is a food that is very present on the menu of Brazilians, regardless of their region and/or social class. Both in its pasteurized UHT version and in derivatives such as cheese, yogurt and chocolate milk, milk undergoes a complex production and logistical process in its supply chain until it reaches supermarket shelves.
In Brazil, according to the IBGE, there is a record of milk production in 555 of the 558 micro-regions in the country, the vast majority coming from small producers. In addition, due to specific characteristics, milk has a very high level of perishability, which makes its handling and storage even more difficult. Within this context, it is important to emphasize the performance of cooperatives, logistical facilitators that consolidate volumes daily in order to simplify the collection of large industries. From this operation came the concept of milk run, which consists of orderly collection of small volumes of inputs from the same vehicle, in the same way that cooperatives carry out daily with small producers.
However, despite being one of the largest milk producers in the world, Brazil still has the quality of the product as a major limiting factor in the growth of this market. It is possible to draw a clear relationship between the social development of the production region and the quality of the milk produced. Most of the time this is due to precarious methods of feeding the cattle and milking, which affects the properties and consequently the final taste of the milk. This is one of the main reasons for the lack of large dairy products companies in the Northeast, a region that despite the large market is still, for the most part, supplied by industries located in MG, SP, GO and the south of the country.
In any case, milk is still one of the main generators of employment and income in the countryside, even with the stagnation of production due to the crisis of recent years. In addition, several opportunities, mainly related to mergers and acquisitions, have moved the sector and may lead to an increase in demand for milk in the coming years. Planning in the field and restructuring of logistics will be necessary so that the future scenario of milk production and distribution is well taken advantage of.
