Gujarat milk price improves with dip in procurement

VADODARA: As monsoon arrived in Gujarat, milk procurement of major dairies in the state is 3-4 % less compared to last year.
All the district dairy unions put together in the state are presently procuring around 195 lakh litres per day (LLPD) milk which is much lower compared to last year when the state’s dairy sector had witnessed a jump of over 20% in its milk procurement in this time of the year.
Experts suggest that the drop in milk procurement is due to the impact that state’s dairy sector had witnessed when prices of skimmed milk powder (SMP) had crashed globally impacting the domestic milk procurement prices paid to milk pourers.
But there is a silver lining as the procurement prices paid to farmers have started witnessing an upward trend in the last three to four months.
“Against Rs 550 to Rs 635 per kilo fat that our member unions were paying to farmers in the beginning of March, the milk unions have started paying procurement prices in the range of Rs 600 to Rs 705 per kilo fat,” said R S Sodhi, managing director of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF).
GCMMF is the apex body of all dairy unions of the state that markets brand Amul. “The average increase in procurement price comes to Rs 4 to Rs 5 per litre. The drop in procurement is due to the adverse impact that country’s dairy sector had witnessed when SMP prices had dropped but the situation is set to improve as milk procurement prices have started increasing,” he said.
Last year, the dairy unions which were facing glut of milk, had drastically reduced the procurement prices. Now, the prices are coming back to the previous levels.
Anand-based Amul Dairy which was earlier paying Rs 610 per kg fat on March 1 has now started paying Rs 660 per kg fat to its farmers. Similarly, even Mehsana’s Dudhsagar Dairy which was paying Rs 550 per kilo fat has increased procurement price to Rs 600 per kilo fat.
Bhavnagar and Surendranagar’s milk unions are presently paying the highest procurement price to their farmer members in the range of Rs 705 to Rs 700 per kilo fat.