Visakha Dairy plans Rs 20-crore expansion

"As there is a possibility to procure more than 5-7 lakh litres of milk a day in the Coastal districts, we have decided to set up a new dairy unit with 2 lakh litre capacity in East Godavari district, and a 50,000-litre capacity mini dairy plant at Srikakulam with a total investment of Rs 6.5 crore. We are also setting up a 30-tonne a day milk powder plant at East Godavari district with an investment of Rs 10 crore. The plant with be ready by November," said NV Venkata Rao, the managing director of the dairy.

The cooperative dairy expects to achieve 15-18 per cent growth in milk procurement during the current fiscal.

"During the last fiscal, our average daily milk procurement was 2.2 lakh litres. We have targeted an average of 2.8 lakh litres per day this year. Though it is a tough task to reach the target due to the severe drought conditions in the North Coastal Andhra Pradesh, we are confident of touching 2.5-2.6 lakh litres a day, which is 15 per cent higher when compared to the last fiscal," he said.

"In addition to the existing three North Coastal districts, Visakha Dairy has been procuring milk from East Godavari district for the last one month. With this, our procurements this year is likely to go upto 2.5-2.6 lakh litres a day. As of now, we procure 3.6 lakh litres a day, and sell 2.5 lakh litres. The remaining milk is converted into milk powder. Of the 2.5 lakh litres, we send 60,000 litres to the Kolkata market, and sell 30,000 litres under the Amul brand in tetra packs. The remaining is being marketed by the dairy under the brand name Visakha Dairy," he informed.

He informed that the dairy had been gradually replacing the chilling stations with 80 bulk coolers to maintain the milk quality for a few more hours.

"We have already installed 50 bulk coolers over the last two years, and plan to add another 30 bulk coolers worth Rs 4 crore by March 2005," he added.

The dairy is also hopeful of earning Rs 20 crore foreign exchange in the next financial year.

"Syed Mohammad Gouse, the quality assurance controller of Bahrain Danish Dairy, visited the dairy recently. He expressed satisfaction over the operations, and sought 40,000 litres of ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk in tetra packs a day, apart from flavoured milk and ghee in bulk quantities. We intend to export our milk products to Bahrain through containers from March or April," Venkata Rao said.