After saying ‘Khobradaar USA,’ the Utterly Butterly Amul Girl is all set to butter up the Big Apple.

Come February, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns and markets the Amul brand of milk products, will start manufacturing ghee (butter oil), paneer (cottage cheese) and shrikhand (a sweet dish made of strained yogurt) from a plant near New York.

“Initially, three products will be manufactured at the facility from February. There are around 3 million Indian and many more Asian consumers whom we will target in the initial phase,” said R. S. Sodhi, Managing Director of the Federation. The dairy major has joined hands with a New Jersey-based non-resident Indian to use his plant.

Earlier this year, Kaira (Anand) District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd (Amul Dairy) entered into an agreement with GCMMF and the NRI.

“We will provide technology and infrastructure support for manufacturing milk products,” Sodhi told Business Line .

Maintaining its core cooperative structure, GCMMF will source milk from cooperative dairies in the US.

“The procurement price to be given to the farmers will be decided according to the prevailing norms in that market,” Sodhi said, adding that GCMMF also plans to launch liquid milk in due course.

GCMMF exports every year around Rs 100 crore worth of dairy products including to the US, West Asia, and Europe. Around Rs 35 crore worth of milk products are exported to the US alone.

For 2013-14, GCMMF is eyeing a turnover of around Rs 18,000 crore, 30 per cent more than last year.

>rutam.vora@thehindu.co.in

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