Increase in inputs affects fresh cheese production in Veracruz, Mexico

ALFREDO MARQUEZ. THE SUN OF TAMPICO. Drought has caused a drop in milking up to almost 70%. OLD TOWN, Veracruz. Cheese producers in the northern zone of Veracruz, assure that the effects that occur in the sector are mainly due to the rise in inputs, rather than to the shortage of milk that is registered by the drought that plagues the region, which has caused a drop in milk production of more than 70% as had not been seen in the last 20 years. Gerardo Benavides González, a cheese producer in the municipality of Pueblo Viejo, acknowledged that the drop in milk production by ranchers in the area is indeed one of the factors affecting the dairy products processing sector, which suffers from a drop in the production of cheese in its various presentations and varieties, cream and cottage cheese. Only in the bag to pack the cheeses there has been a considerable increase of almost 25 percent, while the 50-kilo bag of fine salt that used to cost just over 140 pesos, now has a price of ...