The government on Friday ruled out importing milk products such as butter and ghee amidst reports of stagnation in milk output and rising demand.
“There would be no such import and domestic supplies will be improved,” Parshottam Rupala, Union minister for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, said at the sideline of an event.
He said that the demand for dairy products has increased. “We have a huge untapped area (market for milk ), we will try to tap that…We will manage it properly and there is no need to worry,” Rupala said after launching the Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative (APPI) and the World Bank-funded Animal Health System Support for One Health (AHSSOH).
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India, the biggest milk producer in the world, imported dairy products last in 2011.
Earlier in the week, a senior official had told FE that the government was not considering importing dairy products such as butter and ghee for now as domestic supplies have improved.
“We are not considering import of dairy products as domestic supplies have improved following the setting in of flush season or peaking of production in southern India which have given a boost to milk output,” a senior official had said.
The official said there has been improvement in supplies in northern India due to cooler temperature which prevailed last month.
Sources said that several private dairy companies have informed that the supply situation of milk has improved and there is no requirement of imports of products at present.
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Earlier, the government had indicated that it may resort to import of dairy products such as butter and ghee if required after assessing the stock position of milk in southern states which have entered flush season where output grows sharply.
Some dairy experts also attribute the current supply problems to the Covid-19-induced sudden demand contraction for a few months from March-April 2020. This led to a reduction in cattle population, stunting of the animals and constriction of milk output with a lag.
Despite India being the largest milk producer since 1998, the country’s milk inflation has been the second biggest element after the high prices of cereals that drove up retail inflations since January 2023.
Retail milk inflation in March 2023 was 9.24%.
Organised players, including Mother Dairy and Amul, hiked milk prices multiple times in the last one year citing higher fodder cost, robust demand and some impact due to reports of lumpy skin disease.
The country’s milk production is likely to have stagnated in 2022-23 due to lumpy skin diseases in cattle across several states and the lagged effect of Covid in the form of stunting of the animals,
The milk production was estimated at 221 million tonne (MT) in 2021-22, which has increase of up 6.25% from 208 MT in the previous year,
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, India, which contributed 24% of the global output in 2021-22, is the highest milk producer in the world.