Ban on milk powder comes under review

The government today said it would take a decision on lifting the ban on export of milk powder, which is valid till September, after reviewing its availability.

"The existing ban on export of milk powder is up to September 30, 2007. However, any decision on lifting the ban on export of milk powders will be taken after reviewing the milk situation in the country," Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar told the Rajya Sabha.

The minister said the decision to ban export of milk powder has been taken to make liquid milk available to domestic consumers at a reasonable price. Pawar said the milk production is estimated to rise to 100 million tonnes in 2006-07 compared with 97.1 million tonnes in the previous year.

However, the growth rate of milk output is likely to decline to 2.98 per cent in 2006-07 from 4.97 per cent recorded the year earlier. He said the total expenditure on dairy development during 2004-05 to 2006-07 stood at Rs 456.74 crore. There is no authentic data on demand and supply of milk in the country as a major portion of the produced quantity (about 85 per cent) is handled by unorganised sector, Pawar said. However, the government constantly reviews availability, production and price of milk in the domestic market, he added.