Date:09/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/09/stories/2007060922660400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Huge demand for milk this summer

Swathi Shivanand

SOUGHT AFTER: A person at a Nandini outlet in Bangalore showing the products. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: Maybe it is all those milkshakes and lassis. Or maybe kids are being forced to drink more milk, or maybe grown ups are drinking more beverages.

But this summer, demand for milk has reached unexpected levels across the State.

The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) has sold an additional three lakh litres of milk in the past one month, its sales going up from 18 lakh litres same time last year to 21.3 lakh litres this year.

Sales

And most of the sales have been in Bangalore, where about 60 out of every 100 people buy Nandini milk.

Why the swell in demand? "People always buy more milk in summer. But this time, the shortfall in demand and supply has been more acute because we have not been able to procure enough milk from the dairies," Ramalinge Gowda, KMF Managing Director, told The Hindu .

In fact, KMF, which used to register a six to seven per cent increase in milk procurement every year, had seen the levels plummet to minus three per cent last month.

Currently, however, the procurement level has stabilised at two per cent.

Officials at KMF attribute the decline in milk availability to the drought situation in 145 taluks across the State. Also, since Karnataka has a surplus of milk through the year, KMF had earlier commitments to supply milk to neighbouring States.

"We have cut down on our supply to Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to 27,000 litres. But we cannot renege on our commitment to providing ghee to the Lord Venkateshwara temple at Tirupati," said Chennakrishnaiah, Joint Director (Marketing). The KMF had to provide milk even to States such as Delhi.

The plunge in milk availability has had ripple effects on milk products such as ghee and butter.

When The Hindu visited Nandini outlets in the city, the stall owners said that they have not received butter in the past two months.

A hit

"Our supply of butter has been especially hit because we make butter out of cream from fresh milk. But since there is so little milk available, we have had to cut down on our production of butter," said Mr. Gowda.

Looking up

With the onset of the monsoon, the situation is better as there is more milk available. Milk availability levels have gone up to around 29 lakh litres.

Butter production has resumed and seems like the rich and fresh Nandini products are back to tingle our taste buds.