Visakha Dairy to foray into bulk milk powder

Visakha Co-operative Dairy, the largest co-operative dairy in the state, is planning to enter the bulk milk powder market in a big way.

For this, the company plans to invest Rs 20 crore for the setting up of a 30-tonne-a-day capacity milk powder unit at Rajanagaram in East Godavari District. At present, Visakha Co-operative Dairy has a 13-tonne-per-day production capacity milk powder unit in Visakhapatnam

Speaking to Business Standard, N V Venkata Rao, the managing director of Visakha Co-Operative Dairy, said: "Last year, the milk powder prices in the market were around Rs 65-70 per kg. At present, the huge demand for milk powder has pushed the prices to Rs 100 per kg. This trend is likely to continue. In order to benefit from this situation, we are gearing up to complete the construction of the proposed milk powder factory at East Godavari District by March 2005."

Major dairies in Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka have been producing bulk milk powder in large quantities. The local dairies have been purchasing milk powder from these states in times of shortage. "If we can produce more milk powder, then the local dairies do not have to depend on other states. In fact, the dairies from other states will come here for milk powder. Besides, there is an increasing demand for milk powder from some Arab countries. We are, therefore, planning to export some quantity of milk powder," he explained.

The dairy has been converting the surplus milk into powder to use it during lean milk procurement seasons. "At present, we are marketing 10 tonne of milk powder a month in consumer packs. Despite the increasing demand for bulk milk powder, we are not selling the powder in bulk as we have to meet our own milk demand during the summer," Rao said.

"In East Godavari district, there is big scope to procure more milk. We are, at present, collecting around 60,000 litre of milk everyday in the district and selling 32,000 litre on the Visakha Dairy brand. We plan to procure about 2.5 lakh litre to 3 lakh litre per day from East Godavari district once the Rajanagarm unit is operationalised. We will market this production in bulk to other dairies and also export to other countries," Rao added.