MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayans consume eight times more beer than milk

Beer consumption in Paraguay is eight times that of milk according to the Paraguayan Chamber of Dairy Industries based on information from the Pan-american Health Organization.

However is spite of the beer plus ratio the domestic dairy industry supplies 95% of the local market, mostly milk and yogurts, with only a relatively significant percentage of powdered milk supplied by Argentina mostly for babies and under twelve children, and in urban areas.

“There’s a slight tendency for high bracket dairy imports from Argentina but sales are concentrated in supermarkets and still at prohibitive prices for most Paraguayans”, said Jazmin Torres, president of the dairy chamber.

Regarding cheese Paraguay is also self sufficient with some expensive Argentine brands in some boutique shops in the capital Asunción. However Torres admitted that “contraband sometimes is a serious competition for domestic production”.

Nevertheless processed milk per capita consumption in Paraguay is low: 80 litres annually which compares negatively with the World Health Organization target of 150 litres. “This means that for each litre of milk consumed Paraguayans take eight litres of beer”, pointed out Torres.

The 80 litres also is well below the average of two of Mercosur partners, Argentina and Uruguay which have an annual per capita consumption of 225 litres of milk.

Another setback for the local dairy industry is that Paraguay with the exception of a few counties does not have specific legislation banning the sale of raw milk, that is non processed, non pasteurized, and “the issue is considered municipal, not a national problem”, complained Torres.