Milk and milk products prices are likely to go up as several parts of milk producing regions of Western and Central India are facing severe drought situation.
India’s largest milk cooperative, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) expressed the possibility of price rise in milk products – skimmed milk powder (SMP) in the range of about 15-20 per cent in the next two months.
While a revision in liquid milk prices will also happen in a month’s time.
Procurement down “There is a downfall in milk procurement in past couple of months. At GCMMF-affiliated cooperative dairies, the peak milk procurement was 215 lakh litres per day (LLPD) in end of January. But now it has come down by about 35 LLPD to about 180 LLPD. Also, the input costs for farmers have gone up. We expect milk and milk products prices to go up in the next two months,” said RS Sodhi, Managing Director, GCMMF, which markets milk and milk products under Amul brand.
Normally, summer season has lower milk procurement, but drought puts additional pressure on the milk producers.
Liquid milk “For liquid milk, there is no immediate plan to hike the prices. But we will look at the situation for the next one month and after that, possibly there will be a price revision,” Sodhi added.
Milk powder up For the SMP, Sodhi maintained that prices have already increased by about ₹10-15 per kg, which is likely to increase up to ₹30-40 in coming months.
Sodhi, however, declined to share the inventory quantity of SMP citing price sensitivity issue, but he assured that there was sufficient SMP inventory to meet demand.
Global prices In the international market, SMP prices hovered lower at around $1,700 per tonne, which is lower by about $500 from $2,267 in October 2015.
GCMMF has 17 member unions in Gujarat with over 36 lakh farmers spread across 18,600 villages of Gujarat as its member.