If dairy cooperatives do not wake up ,not only would foreign players try to fill the gap but even government would not be able to do much, given huge demand for milk.
Government is caught on all sides due to rising prices,and hike in milk price is adding to its woes.
Forced to the wall, the government has increased the quota for import of skimmed and whole milk powder by 20,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes to boost domestic supply.
The imported skimmed milk powder (SMP) are distributed to major producers to convert them into liquid milk.
“Quantity permitted for import of skimmed and whole milk powder…is increased from 30,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes, with immediate effect,” Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a public notice dated August 4.
Food inflation inched up to 8.04 per cent for the week ended July 23 on expensive onion, fruits and milk. Since 2010, milk prices have increased by about 25-30 per cent in the country.
Within three months, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) that markets its products under brand ‘Amul’, has decided to hike its milk prices in Delhi and NCR by Rs 1-2 a litre from Friday.
India, the largest milk producer in the world, has an output of about 112 million tonnes of milk every year, roughly of the same order as the domestic demand.
The tight demand-supply situation has made milk prices prone to fluctuations.