No decision has yet been taken to import dairy products, a top official said on Saturday, labelling recent media reports that the central government is considering buying from overseas markets amid local shortages as misleading.
News reports suggesting possible import of milk and milk products were “causing apprehension among dairy farmers and other stakeholders,” animal husbandry secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said.
Also read: Retail milk prices rose 15% in past year, highest in a decade
“The (animal husbandry) department has not made any decision on the importation of dairy products and this department always keeps the interests of dairy producers at the forefront when making policy decisions,” Singh said.
India’s private import of milk products jumped over 1000% to $4.77 billion in 2022-23, even as export of fat items such as clarified butter (ghee) surged to record levels due to high global prices, stoking the sharpest rise in domestic prices in a decade, HT reported on Saturday.
Inventories of butter and ghee “substantially improved in February 2023 in comparison to December 2022 and is expected to be better”, Singh said. Stocks of skimmed milk powder in the country were adequate to keep supplies steady in the lean summer months, he added.
Retail milk prices rose 15% over the past year, the fastest pace in a decade, hurting household budgets. Industry experts attributed the rising prices to higher fodder costs, a shortage of milch cattle due to the deadly lumpy skin disease epidemic and a slowdown in productivity in the world’s largest producer.
The animal husbandry secretary said extended rains in March had stretched the flush season, when cattle produce surplus milk, resulting in improved buying by dairy cooperatives. He also said the lumpy skin disease was “fully under control”. The disease is estimated to have killed and emaciated 300,000 cattle in the country last year.
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Retail milk prices had to be increased several times to keep prices paid to farmers above their cost of production, an official of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns the Amul brand, said on March 4.
