Rising dairy prices putting strain on Borderland retailers
SAN ELIZARIO, Texas — Rising dairy prices around the country are putting a strain on local retailers, such as Licon Dairy in San Elizario.
“It’s stressing out the owners, the company itself, because you’re trying to get by with what you have, and every month it seems like something else is going at you,” said Angel Licon, manager of Licon Dairy.
Licon Dairy has been processing cheese for over 65 years. Lately, the day-to-day operations have been more difficult thanks to pandemic-related problems.
Labor shortages, the Covid-19 omicron variant, high inflation, and global supply chain issues are creating a pricing surge. Licon explained that in just one month, the price for a gallon of milk increased by 20%. That price is expected to increase another 20% in just a month.
To counter this, Licon Dairy is raising the prices on their packs of cheese. A normal $4.50 pack will soon bump up to $4.75 to help meet the cost of products.
“We’re really not going to make much more profit, it’s just to break even to what we were making last month,” Licon explained.
Labor is also an issue at the dairy farm. Licon said that higher wages at bigger retailers, such as Amazon, have made it difficult to attract and retain workers to process cheese. Licon says if they raise their wages, then the price of cheese will keep going up. Because of this, possible employees instead go for the higher wages that bigger retailers can afford to pay.
