Milk Producers Co-op says Indulac has ‘made progress’ in past 5 years
Five years after buying 100% of the shares of the Industrias Lecheras de Puerto Rico (Indulac, in Spanish) processing plant, the Milk Producers Co-op (COOPPLE, in Spanish) has achieved market growth, fulfilled its obligations, improved the performance of Puerto Rico’s dairy cows and made profits to distribute among its partners in the sector, executives announced.
“The strategies that we’ve implemented through the cooperative model have already generated about $890,000 to distribute in dividends among our shareholders, leading COOPPLE to become the largest, most dynamic and successful agricultural cooperative on the island,” said COOPPLE Chairman Manuel E. Martínez-Arbona.
“The cooperative model has allowed Indulac to redefine its vision and carry out a transformation in the Puerto Rican dairy industry,” he said.
“We’ve managed to establish a vertically integrated business model in the dairy industry, managing to bring a better product from the farm to the table much faster and much more efficiently,” Martínez-Arbona said.
“Furthermore, these changes have made it possible to acquire very modern technology to increase production efficiency and produce a greater quantity of milk,” he said.
At the beginning of the business relationship between COOPPLE and Indulac, 44.5 million quarts were processed during Fiscal 2016-2017. In Fiscal 2020-2021, it increased to 51.3 million quarts processed, or up 15.3%.
“To achieve this goal, it was essential to carry out significant investments in several areas of Indulac. Capital investments began in 2017, with the acquisition of new equipment and the expansion of our manufacturing plant,” said Francisco “Paco” Oramas, agronomist and executive president of Indulac.
“An example of this is the initial investment of more than $13 million for the construction of a new and modern 4,000 square-foot production area, the purchase of three state-of-the-art, high-efficiency UHT Tetra fillers with a new valve system that installed in the facility,” said Oramas.
The executives also said establishing a platform to buy raw materials and getting a discount for volume, in benefit of co-op members.
COOPPLE currently has 147 members, which represents 70% of the dairy industry farmers on the island, and who produce on their farms more than 75% of the total Grade A raw milk used by the industry in Puerto Rico.
