GCMMF wants ban on export of skimmed milk powder to be lifted.

Ahmedabad, Apr 2 (PTI) Asia's largest dairy Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), marketing its dairy products under the brand 'Amul', has appealed to the centre to lift the ban on exports of skimmed milk powder(SMP) saying that an estimated one lakh tonne of it is lying dumped with dairies across India. With milk prices shooting by over 15 per cent in retail markets last year due to demand-supply mismatch, the union government had imposed ban on export of SMP in February 2011.

"Around one lakh tonne of milk powder is lying dumped in dairies across India, so we have demanded that the government lift the ban on exports of SMPs and its products," GCMMF Managing Director R S Sodhi told reporters today. The ban came into effect in February 2011, and it has been in force for over a year and three months. "The federation is now getting nearly 140 lakh litres of milk per day as against 125 lakh litres per day last year," Sodhi said. GCMMF, operating with a network of 31 lakh farmers in Gujarat, has begun procuring milk from other states too such as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. "The scenario of milk demand-supply, has changed from what it was in February last year.

The milk supply with dairies is ahead of demand as the farmers have started getting better remunerative price," Sodhi said. "Over the last three years, farmers have got more than 50 per cent hike in prices. We now pay them Rs 33 to 34 per litre for buffalo milk and nearly Rs 23 per litre for cow milk," he said. PTI VKB PD ABC

Source : ibnlive.in.com