Indian Dairy Association | Indian Dairyman

Amul may Buy Vanilco to have Foothold in Southern Market

Amul is contemplating to buy Kochi-based Vanilla India Producers Company (Vanilco), which processes and markets natural vanilla. The acquisition will help the company to establish themselves in the southern markets. The company is planning to soon launch natural vanilla-based ice creams.

According to Mr. Paul Jose, Managing Director, Vanilco, “There is strong possibility for the equity participation leading to a merger of the two companies. The amount of investment and other details will be decided later. I don't think that there are many hurdles to this as Amul is one of India’s top consumer companies”.

Vanilco, a company formed in 2003 by 2,500 vanilla growers, already has an agreement with Amul to supply it 20 tonnes of natural vanilla essence annually, for the Real Vanilla ice cream range.
Punjab to Boost Milk Production

The Hon’ble Punjab Cooperation Minister, Mr. Kanwaljit Singh, has constituted a 15-member Committee to chalk out a special action plan within 30 days to augment milk production. Addressing a press conference, he said the Cooperation Department has embarked upon a plan to strengthen the dairy sector, which is remunerative than tradition wheat-paddy rotation to bail out the farming community reeling under a huge debt of Rs. 25,000 crore. He said the committee would suggest ways and means for strengthening the managing capacity and efficiency of Milkfed management besides making the milk plants more viable by running them to full capacity.
Nestle India Net Up 49.9 per cent

Increased focus on productivity, cost pressure management and healthy sales in prepared foods and chocolates helped Nestle India post a net profit of 49.87 per cent for the quarter ended December 31, 2007. Net profit for the quarter was up Rs. 93.6 crore as against Rs. 62.46 crore in the year-ago period. For the full year ended December 31, 2007, Nestle posted a net profit of 31.3 per cent at Rs. 413.8 crore, compared to Rs. 315.1 crore the previous year.

The maker of Maggi noodles, KitKat chocolates and Nescafe posted an increase of 24.4 per cent in net sales for the full year ended December 31, 2007, at Rs. 3,504.35 crore. For the quarter ended December 31, 2007, net sales were up 21.6 per cent compared to the year-ago quarter.

The company attributed its performance to its ongoing strategic transformation process, scale efficiencies and cost reduction initiatives. “All this allowed the business to more than offset higher raw material costs, which continue to remain at record high levels and pose a challenge,” the company said in a statement.
Ice-Cream Brands Raise Prices as Cost Increases

Certain ice-cream brands like Amul and KwalityWalls have become costlier due to rising prices of milk and milk powder.

According to Mr. R.S. Sodhi, Chief General Manger, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets the Amul brand of products, “We have increased prices by about 5-10 per cent because milk procurement prices have risen 30 per cent”.

Considering that ice-cream is largely an ‘impulse buy’ product for consumers, companies try to hold on to the price line of certain popular brands, wherever possible.

In this context, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) spokesman said, “In spite, of cost escalations on a long term basis, the business has maintained pricing across its portfolio at the same levels for several years now. In the recent past, the ice-cream business has witnessed significant cost escalation on in put costs such as skimmed milk powder. We have taken selective increase on specific SKU's in our portfolio.”
Foreign Delegates from Bangladesh Visited IDA House

Four delegates from Bangladesh, led by Engr. Md. Anayet Husain Topader, Agro-Processing Specialist, Markets and Livelihoods Programme, Practical Action Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh had visited the IDA House on March 18, 2008. The purpose of their visit was to get brief information on the Indian dairy sector.

Dr. N.R. Bhasin, President, IDA gave a powerpoint presentation to the delegation on the development scenario of the Indian dairy sector. He also briefed them about the various activities of the Association.

During the deliberation, Mr. Animesh Banerjee, former President, IDA also apprised them on the dairy situation in India. Mr. N.A. Shaikh, Vice President, IDA; Mr. K.L. Arora, CEC Member, IDA; Mr. M.P.S. Chadha, CEC Member, IDA; Mr. I.K. Narang, Secretary, IDA, Mrs. Dipti Ranjan, Editor, Indian Dairyman were also present.

Delegates thanked President IDA for providing valuable information on different segments of dairy development of India.
Sabar Dairy Chalks Out Rs. 150 cr Spread

Sabarkantha District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd., popularly known as Sabar Dairy, is planning to increase its milk processing capacity by setting up another plant. The dairy, which is a member of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), plans to invest Rs. 150 crore for the expansion.

Besides, it is contemplating a milk processing plant with a capacity of three lakh litre per day at Haryana.

The dairy will spend Rs. 110 crore to set up the milk processing plant of one million litre near its existing facility over the next two years. The dairy has been procuring milk more than 1.25 million litre per day, but the present milk processing capacity is only One million litre. The Sabar dairy is being forced to send excess milk to NDDB's mother dairy in Gandhinagar. According to Mr. B.M. Patel, Managing Director, Sabar Dairy, “We are also planning a milk powder plant at our existing premises. However, it would depend on the procurement trend. If it goes through, it will be a 60-tonne plant”. The move comes in the wake of higher milk procurement of over 1.25 million litre per day, which is almost 20 per cent higher over past year. The dairy’s current milk processing capacity is one million litre.
The company is in the process of acquiring land for the Haryana plant which is likely to come up in the next two years. It would spend Rs 40 crore on the plant.

The dairy registered a turnover of Rs. 850 crore for the fiscal 2007-08 and is targeting Rs. 1,000 crore for the fiscal 2008-09.
Amul Launches CALCI+ – High Calcium Milk

With the introduction of Amul CALCI+ High Calcium Milk, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, which markets its products under the brand Amul, is all set to strengthen its UHT Milk portfolio. Amul CALCI+ is targeted at helping pregnant woman, growing kids and young adults to meet their daily calcium requirement and help in preventing osteoporosis etc.

Amul CALCI+ contains 100 per cent natural milk calcium and does not contain any preservatives. It is simply subjected to a special sterilization process called UHT (Ultra heat treatment) and stays fresh for 120 days at room temperature. The one litre aseptically packed Tetra Pak Amul CALCI+ is available at all Amul Preferred Outlets (Amul APOs), leading super markets and major A class outlets across India from January 2008. Amul CALCI+ is priced at Rs. 35.

Experts in nutrition around the world, recommend a daily calcium intake of 400-600 mg in general and 1000 mg during pregnancy and breast-feeding. Two glasses of Amul CALCI+ meets the daily requirement of calcium.

More importantly, Amul CALCI+ has been enriched with calcium derived from natural milk source, which gets absorbed easily in the body. Further, Vitamin D helps high absorption of calcium in the body.