IDA meet Underscores Milk & Milk products as Global Food

Indian Dairy Association (IDA) recently hosted a virtual meet to point out the significance of milk and milk products as global food on the occasion of World Milk Day. The meeting emphasized that Milk is a Global Food, wherein Emerging Opportunities in Dairy Industry, Rising Consumer Demand for Safe and Healthy Dairy Products and Milk- Tool to Address Livelihood and Malnutrition issues were conversed about.

Addressing the event, Dr. R S Sodhi, managing director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), also called as Amul, talked about constraints being faced in the supply chain, what is required for the dairy industry to continue to bring supply chain efficiency in the whole supply chain right from milk procurement to the consumers.

“Till we start giving more to farmers and the consumer then will grow. So I think the dairy industry needs to look into areas where we can bring more supply chain efficiency which brings more procurement where we have the small procurement sector or transportation or especially in retailing and distribution. We should not adopt this marketing strategy of big Multinational FMCG companies by bringing more supply chain partners,” Sodhi further said.

Professor G.S Rajhoria, president Indian Dairy Association (IDA), mentioned- “The United Nations have declared the theme of this year’s “World Milk Day” to promote the socio-economic status of the milk producers, recognise the importance of milk as a complete food and to ensure the prevention of environmental degradation across the globe.”

He asserted- “We are celebrating today’s event in a difficult time while the entire world is facing the challenges of Covid-19 leading to prolonged lockdowns.”

“The country has witnessed a dip in the demand by about 15% in liquid milk, butter, cheese, ghee and paneer due to the closure of hotels, restaurants, catering units, tea shops, university hostels and the sweet shops“, he further added.

He ended by declaring- “The dairies have slashed down the procurement prices of raw milk.” He mentioned that every dark cloud has a silver lining and dairy plants are now looking towards new products launch for boosting immunity and wellness. However he requested the GST Council to consider the request of dairy stakeholders to reduce GST rate to 5% uniformly on all products to help industry come out of the problems of liquidity and to promote growth of dairy sector”.

After that, many other speakers threw light on several issues that the dairy sector business is facing.