Amul expects no price hike after timely monsoon in Gujarat, says chief Jayen S Mehta

Ahmedabad: Amul does not anticipate any price hike as the situation is "pretty" good this year after timely monsoon rains in Gujarat and flush milk procurement season is starting, GCMMF Managing Director Jayen S Mehta said on Wednesday.

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) sells its dairy products under the popular Amul brand. “The situation is pretty good this year because of timely monsoon in Gujarat at least which means the pressure on producers for the feed and fodder cost is not high, and we are entering the flush season of milk procurement, so we are not anticipating any hike,” Mehta told PTI.

He said this while replying to a question about whether there would be any kind of price rise in the coming months. On the investment plans, he said that they are investing close to Rs 3,000 crore every year and that is going to be there for the next several years. "…with increase in milk procurement and processing facilities also need expansion, we will be announcing a new dairy plant at Rajkot…with a capacity of more than 20 lakh litres per day, and a new packaging and processing units also there,” Mehta said. He added that they would invest at least Rs 2,000 crore in the Rajkot project while several other projects are also underway.

When asked about certain trading partners like the European Union (EU) demanding import duty concessions in the sector under free trade agreements (FTAs), Mehta said that milk is a source of livelihood for more than 10 crore families in the country and most of the producers are small and marginal farmers. "If the developed countries want to dump their surpluses into our country, it becomes a problem for our farmers and that's what Amul has represented several times to the government," he said adding the government also understood this the core issue and that is why the dairy sector has been kept out in all FTAs. "India allows import of dairy goods like European cheese at a marginal 30 per cent duty…Those countries do not reciprocate this. It is difficult to export dairy products to EU … The US has duties from 60-100 per cent…India is an open market but here we don't want their surpluses to come at a cheaper rate and harm the livelihood of our small farmers," he said.