Third Party producers receive “the worst price paid in Europe” for milk

Angra do Heroísmo, Azores, 01 Sep 2026 (Lusa) – The President of the Agricultural Association of Terceira Island (AAIT), José António Azevedo, today regretted that the industry has again lowered the price of milk paid to the producer on the island, when it already practiced the 'lowest in Europe'.

‘The milk producers were already without any margin to produce milk, taking into account the increase in production factors, including fuels and concentrates. With the drop in the price of milk paid to the producer, it is now impossible to produce milk under the appropriate conditions", he said, in declarations to Lusa.

On Monday, the Unicol cooperative informed milk producers of the Terceira and Graciosa islands that the price paid to the producer would suffer a drop of 1.5 cents per litre from September 1.

It is the second drop in the price of milk on these islands in 2026, after a three-cent reduction in February, which prompted protests by producers.

Pronicol, the only large dairy factory in Terceira, owned by Lactogal in 51%, followed the example of other factories in the Azores, which also lowered the price of milk in August and September.

José António Azevedo does not understand that Lactogal maintains a 10-cent differential between the value paid to milk producers in the Azores and the mainland.

"It had been the right time to shorten this differential. All it had to do was keep the price of milk in the Azores", he said.

On average, milk producers on Terceira received 39.9 cents per litre of milk in August and received 38 cents in September.

According to the association leader, it is 'the worst price paid in Europe'.

‘The markets have been much worse in terms of the marketing of dairy products. There's already a price reversal. If milk went up when it was supposed to go up, we understood the descent, but it did not go up", he said.

José António Azevedo said that there is “a total discouragement” among milk producers on Terceira Island, who are increasingly seeking to change activity.

‘In the last warning of the conversion of milk holdings to meat on Terceira Island, the duties made available have been exhausted. And now, if there were to be a new opening of applications, it would be higher,' he said.

The Chairman of the Agricultural Association of Terceira Island claims that there are producers unable to carry out investment projects to renew their holdings, even if they are part of European funds.

‘At the moment, they do not even have the tools to cope with PEPAC investments. There are projects that have already been approved, others are in the process of being analysed and the producers are left with no way to cope with their investments,” he warned.