Kerala, which gulps down 7 million litres of milk per day, is almost weaning off the Karnataka cow, if the latest dairy trends plant any signpost to future. It was only in January that Kerala was forced to rely not only on the dairies in Karnataka, but also buffalo milk from Kolhapure dairy in Maharashtra, bleeding in enormous transportation costs.
In fact, the milk purchase indent of Kerala’s apex milk co-operative Milma to KMF (Karnataka Milk Federation) has collapsed to just 1 lakh litre per day from 3 lakh litre per day in January. KMF commands Rs 14.8 per litre, selling milk to Milma.
The crucial substitution came from the improved production in three-union Milma’s northern division in Malabar, C Divakaran, Kerala minister for food and animal husbandry, told FE. Cattle population in Wayanad and Pattanamtitta are up in the last couple of years. Secondly, rains have ramped up milk yield, enabling Malabar co-op union to feed the relatively milk-short two southern co-op unions.
Milma’s procurement of milk has surged up to 8.3 lakh litre. Six months ago, this was only 6.5 lakh litre. This means Milma’s purchase from Karnataka has been trimmed down to 1 lakh litres per day.
Although organised sector handles only 18% of Kerala’s total milk produce, Milma’s demand-supply gap is a watchworthy indicator of the state’s dairy trends.
Experts are wary that trends need to be read, factoring out the milk seasonality. Rains usually dull the milk and milk products deman in June. “In fact, dairies in Kerala are yet to match their production in tune with the 4-6% annual growth in milk offtake,” cautions Sateesh, a dairy market analyst.
It is also slightly early for Karnataka dairies to mourn the loss of a high margin market in the South. Anticipating Kerala’s Onam season demand, Karnataka dairies had signed a six-month bulk-order contract with Milma, which is valid upto October 31. Since Onam is in September, Karnataka cows could gear up to a robust order of 2.12 lakh litre to 3 lakh litre per day from mid-August.