COSTS OF MILK COLLECTION AND EVALUATION OF EFFICIENCY IN THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

Abstract

The cost of raw milk supply is very important for the dairy industries. The quantification and management of these costs can help industries to become more competitive in the market. In this context, the objective of this study is to estimate the cost of the raw milk supply by studying the situation in seven dairies located in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais, Brazil. These costs were calculated from information provided by the industries related to fuel consumption, maintenance, manpower, depreciation, cleaning, insurance among others, distributed between fixed and variable costs of companies. The cost of milk supply in the seven companies varied in the range of R$ 0.023 to R$ 0.138 per liter of collected raw milk. These costs can be reduced by increasing the transport capacity and storage tanks within the properties, and by optimizing the collection.