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Harish Damodaran

New Delhi, Sept 23

The Centre has banned skimmed milk powder (SMP) exports since February on grounds that it could affect domestic liquid milk supplies.

But strangely, this logic has not been extended for casein, which consumes three times more milk than SMP.

According to port-wide casein shipments data obtained by Business Line, between February and July 2007, a total quantity of 8,366 tonnes has been exported from the country.

This includes 1,615 tonnes in February, 1,584 tonnes in March, 1,742 tonnes in April, 1,185 tonnes in May, 999 tonnes in June and 1,241 tonnes in July.

To produce one kg of casein, a dairy requires around 32 litres of buffalo milk or 38 litres of cow milk.

Taking an average of 35 litres, the 8,366 tonnes of casein exported during February-July 2007 would have consumed 29.28 crore litres.

That translates into an average consumption of over 16 lakh litres per day (LLPD) over this six-month period.

As against this, production of one kg of SMP requires roughly 12 litres of milk.

During the whole of 2005-06, SMP exports totalled 40,463 tonnes, equivalent to 48.56 crore litres of milk.

The corresponding average milk consumption would, then, have been 13.30 LLPD — more than the 16 LLPD used for manufacture of casein exported during February-July this year.

Moreover, the February-July period is a ‘lean’ season for milk, when production dips as the animals go dry with the onset of summer.

When the ban on SMP exports was imposed on February 9, it was made applicable till September 30, to ensure no diversion of milk during the lean months.

But the fact is that during this same period — export data for August and September are not available — casein exporters have been allowed to consume over 16 LLPD of milk! The Centre is yet to offer any convincing explanation on how even after the ban on SMP shipments, casein exports have continued as before. In fact, they have shot up: while 8,366 tonnes were exported during February-July 2007, they totalled just 1,402 tonnes during April-September 2006 (261 tonnes in April, 92 tonnes in May, 289 tonnes in June, 216 tonnes in July, 289 tonnes in August and 255 tonnes in September).

In both casein and SMP, the raw material is milk sans any cream. SMP manufacture involves drying out the skimmed milk to remove moisture and leaving behind only the powder part.

(Buffalo milk contains 85 per cent water, six per cent fat removed as cream and the balance nine per cent solids-not-fat or SNF recovered as SMP.)

Casein is derived from the nine per cent SNF portion. That, in turn, contains around 3.5 per cent proteins (of which 80 per cent is casein and 20 per cent whey) and 4.5 per cent lactose (sugar), with vitamins, minerals and enzymes making up the rest.

To produce casein, the usual method is to extract it from skimmed milk through controlled acid precipitation.

In the process, whey protein concentrates and lactose are also obtained as by-products, which are sold separately.

More Stories on : Dairy & Dairy Products | Exports & Imports

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