The Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, popularly known as Milma, has denied reports about a possible increase in the price of milk.
Milma chairman K.S. Mani said here on Tuesday that they had not even contemplated such a move. “This is not the time to increase the milk price, especially when our neighbouring Tamil Nadu government headed by M.K. Stalin reduced its milk price by ₹3, said Mr. Mani.
He said Milma was trying to tide over the crisis caused by a fall in the sale of milk by focusing on new products. “Several of new products are going to hit the market very soon. Apart from milk-based products, we will make non-milk based products as well,” he said.
Mr. Mani said that the crisis posed by a fall in milk sale in Malabar region was circumvented by increasing the share of milk products from 23.5 per cent to 30 per cent. “It is a creditable achievement,” he said.
He said work was in full swing for a proposed milk powder factory at Moorkkanad in Malappuram district. At present, the State does not have any milk powder factory. Milma was forced to depend on factories in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra when it had four lakh litres of surplus milk a day during the lockdown.
“In spite of the crisis and the loss, we supported the dairy farmers by offering them ₹38.60 a litre for the milk we procured from them. No State in the country gives dairy farmers as much amount for their milk,” he said.
