Absence of anti-dumping duty may sound death knell for the dairy industry of Punjab which flourished in the aftermath of operation flood and other states.The import of butter oil, fat and other dairy products from European countries has posed a grave threat to dairy industry. As there is no excise duty on imports, the importers are finding it lucrative to import dairy products and sell these in the Indian markets at much cheaper rates.The development has a massive effect on the prices of milk products in Indian states. For instance the desi ghee produced by Milkfed IN Punjab is now being sold at the rate of Rs 110 per kg as against Rs 142 in January this year. In bulk there are no takers for pure ghee even at Rs 90 a kg. The prices of other milk products have also got a beating.
In Punjab alone co-operative milk plants procure about more than eight lakh litres milk a day at Rs 10.40 per 6.5 per cent fat. The private milk plants are reluctant to lift milk at this rate in view of cheaper imports. Little doubt that availability of milk has suddenly gone up and Milkfed has no option but to procure this in view of the policy of providing protection to milk producers from exploiters.
Verka godowns are swelling with dairy products in the absence of takers and the stocks are believed to be about 30,000 tonnes of milk powder and about 350 tonnes of pure ghee. Normally during summer, there is scarcity of milk and milk products in view of high consumption of dairy products like lassi, curd and milk. However, this year because of imports, Punjab which has largest per capita consumption of milk at about 900 grams is flooded with dairy products.
It is learnt that Milkfed has impressed upon the Punjab government to take up with issue with the union government to allow subsidy to dairy owners as is done in most European countries. If that was not possible then anti-dumping duty may be imposed at 50 per cent on all imports of dairy products to provide a level playing field.
Secretary of communist party of Darshan Singh Khattar, India (Marxist-Lennist) who first raised the issue observed that new trade policy had brought down the prices of dairy products drastically. The consumer goods had been hit in view of open general license scheme (OGLS).
OGLS clearly means that there would be no quota and tariff restrictions on these products. He said that unless the centre provides subsidy on the pattern of European countries which provide in some cases subsidy upto 90 per cent, the new situation would sound death knell for the Indian dairy industry. Alternatively, anti-dumping duty of atleast 50 per cent may be imposed to save the dairy industry.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.