The National Cooperative of Milk Producers (Conaprole) is the leading company in Uruguay’s dairy industry. That has been the case since it was established in 1936 and it remains in that position today. Last year, for example, it processed seven out of every ten liters of milk supplied by dairy farmers and its foreign sales accounted for three-fourths of the sector’s total exports.

Its predominance is indisputable. However, in the last decade it has lost (a minor) part of its market share, while several competitors have started to gain relevance. As a result, the changes that have taken place since 2015 have caused the dairy industry to be concentrated in fewer hands.

That is the conclusion of a report entitled “Dairy chain: Situation and outlook,” prepared by the Office of Agricultural and Livestock Programming and Policy (OPYPA) of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fishery (MGAP).

The report examines the participation of the sector’s leading companies over the last ten years. The study found that, in 2015, three companies (Conaprole, Lactalism, and Petra) concentrated 87.7 percent of dairy exports, while in 2024, the share of foreign sales by the three largest companies had increased to 89.7 percent.

The period considered by the OPYPA saw a variation not only in the weight of the foreign sales of the top companies, but also in their relevance within the sector.

In this sense, of the three largest exporters of 2015, only Conaprole is still among the top sellers in 2024. The other two were replaced by the companies Estancias del Lago and Alimentos Fray Bentos.

Estancias del Lago, owned by the Bulgheroni family of Argentina, was established in 2015, but it was not until the following year that it began to position itself as a strong player in the sector. With 18 thousand hectares and 13 thousand milking cows of its own, its share of the domestic market quickly grew.

In 2024, this company accounted for 10 percent of the sector’s exports and it received a similar percentage of the total milk supplied by producers to the industry.

For its part, Alimentos Fray Bentos, owned by the agribusiness group Los Lazos, of the Argentine Boglione family, began operating in 2017. According to its website, the facility in Uruguay supplements the commercial activities of La Sibila, the group’s other dairy industry, which is located in Argentina.

Like Estancias del Lago, Alimentos Fray Bentos grew rapidly in importance in Uruguay’s domestic market, and by 2024 it represented 6.2 percent of all exports. It also received a little over 3 percent of the milk supplied by farmers.

The evolution of the distribution of the milk supplied to dairy processing plants is another indicator of the changes experienced by the sector. That information makes it possible to identify the companies that have grown in recent years, but also those that are declining.

One of the most significant developments in this sense was the closure of the cheese maker Pili. After 58 years in business, in 2018 the plant located in the department of Paysandú discontinued its activities, having accumulated about 60 million dollars in debt.

Right up to its closure, Pili received 3 out of every 100 liters of milk supplied by producers, its share of the sector’s exports represented a similar percentage, and it employed 130 workers.

Pili’s fate is not far removed from that of other companies that, while still in business, have reduced their share in the domestic market—measured through the amount of milk they receive—over the last ten years. That is the situation of Claldy, Calcar, Coleme, and Indulacsa.

In the case of Claldy, a company located in the department of Río Negro, it went from receiving 5 percent of the milk supplied by producers, in 2015, to receiving 2 percent in 2024.

As a result of these circumstances, the company was included in the Reconversion Fund for Dairy Industries (FRIL) created in 2023 to provide financial support to small and medium-sized companies engaged in the primary processing of milk.

Despite this, at the end of February 2025, the Federation of Dairy Industry Workers (FTIL) issued a statement denouncing that Claldy was threatening layoffs and wage reductions for seasonal workers.

Similarly, both Calcar and Coleme saw a drop in their share of the dairy market over the last decade and they also accessed reconversion funds.

In the first case, part of those funds were used to lay off 90 workers in the Calcar plant in Carmelo, department of Colonia. The company had two plants in Colonia, but in mid-2024 it decided to close one of them down.

In early December 2024, it also reported difficulties in the payment of wages and thirteenth month bonuses.

For its part, Coleme, which is located in the department of Cerro Largo, announced at the end of January that it would be outsourcing its milk distribution service and would move forward with a restructure of its workforce.

In response, the steering committee of the workers’ federation issued a statement denouncing the company’s systematic dismissal of unionized workers.

The situation of Indulacsa, the fourth company in this group, is somewhat unique. The firm, located in the department of Salto, has reduced the volume of milk it processes, but the French group Lactalis, which owns the plant, increased its share of the domestic market.

Besides Indulacsa, Lactalis owns another plant in Uruguay, in the department of Colonia, operating under the brand name Parmalat.

In 2024, the French group acquired Granja Pocha, another company in the sector that is located in Colonia and produces cheese, dulce de leche, yogurt, and heavy cream, among other items.

Before it was sold, Granja Pocha had also accessed USD 3.3 million in credits from the Reconversion Fund.

In the last decade, dairy exports have shown an upwards trend. Sales in 2024 were down with respect to the last two years, but they were substantially higher than sales in previous years.

From 2015 to 2024, exports increased by almost USD 200 million (from USD 622 to USD 812 million).

This growth is explained by an increase in the volumes exported and a rise in the placement prices paid for Uruguayan products.

The leading destinations in 2024 were Brazil (USD 288 million), Algeria (USD 219 million), Russia (USD 27 million), Chile (USD 25.9), and Mexico (USD 25.5). Together, these five countries accounted for 72 percent of all exports. Uruguay also exported dairy products for a value of more than USD 1 million to 41 countries.

Producers also benefited from this improvement, as in 2024 they received in average 38 cents per liter of milk sold. That figure evidences an increase from the amount received in the years 2018 through 2020, when it stood at 30 cents per liter.

Nonetheless, the last decade has seen a sustained drop in the number of producers.

In 2015, there was a total of 3,919 dairy farms, of which 2,897 supplied milk. By 2024, the former were down to 3,042 and the latter to 2,275.

Even with that reduction, the volumes supplied to dairy processing plants have increased. This is due to higher productivity per hectare and a concentration of production in mega dairy farms, a modality that is on the rise in the country.

The new government of the Frente Amplio, a progressive coalition that took office on March 1, has said that the sector needs to be a priority. While it has been in office less than a month, the government has yet to adopt specific measures.