Women arrive at a milk assortment centre on the outskirts of Jaipur, India
In March 2022, a full-cream packet of Amul milk price ₹60/litre. The one-litre pouch now prices ₹66. Since 2021, milk costs in India have been on a boil. Prices have been hiked throughout manufacturers and the current hike in February 2023 was Amul’s fifth improve since 2021.
In April 2023, the typical worth for a litre of milk in India was ₹57, which is about 12% increased than ₹51 in April 2022. The common milk worth is the very best in Lucknow and Guwahati at ₹66/litre and ₹65/litre, respectively. Southern cities corresponding to Bengaluru and Chennai have comparatively decrease milk costs.
In the previous yr, Ernakulam noticed the very best rise in milk costs at 19%, adopted by Mumbai, Lucknow and Jaipur which noticed over 10% rise ( chart 1).
Chart 1 | The chart exhibits the typical retail worth for a litre of milk within the month of April for the previous six years.
Chart seems incomplete? Click to take away AMP mode
The Central Bank’s financial coverage committee, which met within the first week of April, mentioned in a assertion that prime inflation in milk was one of the explanations driving retail inflation. While retail inflation slowed to five.66% in March, milk inflation continued to tread increased. In the identical month, milk inflation was at 9.24%, near the degrees final seen in February 2015 ( chart 2).
At the identical time, there have been issues over the nation’s stagnant milk manufacturing in FY23. On April 5, Secretary for Animal Husbandry and Dairying Rajesh Kumar Singh mentioned the nation was going through stagnation and that the federal government would take into account all choices, together with the import of butter and ghee if the state of affairs remained unchanged.
However, days later, the Union Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala contradicted him and dominated out stagnation in milk manufacturing and the federal government’s determination to think about import of butter and ghee.
In FY22, India produced 221 million tonnes of milk, about 5.3% increased than in FY21. While there was a rise within the absolute amount of milk produced, the y-o-y progress has slowed ( chart 3). It peaked at 6.6% in FY18.
According to Mr. Singh, the nation’s milk manufacturing in FY23 would both be stagnant or develop at 1%-2%. Multiple elements have resulted within the stagnation of the nation’s milk manufacturing. Initially, dairy farmers confronted a demand hunch attributable to COVID-19. As demand recovered, the outbreak of lumpy pores and skin illness hit the cattle and buffalo herd, leading to decrease milk yields. High costs of fodder have additionally raised the fee of manufacturing.
According to a solution within the Lok Sabha, 32.8 lakh cattle had been affected by the illness and 1.86 lakh succumbed to the illness. Rajasthan, the second largest producer of milk, noticed the very best quantity of circumstances and cattle deaths. Close to 50% or 15 lakh circumstances and 76,000 cattle deaths had been reported in Rajasthan, as proven in Map 4. While the fodder inflation based mostly on the wholesale worth index eased to 17.13% in March, the determine has remained in double digits for 14 months now, as proven in Chart 5.
Map 4 | The map exhibits the circumstances and deaths attributable to lumpy pores and skin illness
Finally, coming to Mr. Singh’s remarks in regards to the risk of import of dairy merchandise, it should be famous that India is the largest producer of milk on the planet and accounts for twenty-four% of the milk produced worldwide. As proven in Chart 6, India final imported a vital amount of milk in FY12. Since then, milk imports have slumped. While India continues to import whey, butter, cheese and curd in comparatively increased portions, the share of milk in India’s import basket is considerably decrease.
nihalani.j@thehindu.co.in
Source: National Dairy Development Board, Department of Consumer Affairs, Lok Sabha, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and Commerce Ministry
Also learn: Lumpy Skin Disease, improve in fodder price: Centre foresees ‘stagnation’ in milk manufacturing
