Vijaya Dairy bags SA 8000 certification

Joins MNCs club

Vijaya Dairy, run by the Krishna District Milk Producers' Mutually Aided Co-operative Union Ltd, has become the first dairy in the country to win SA 8000 certification from the SGS International Agency of Sweden.

The certificate puts Vijaya Dairy in the club of MNCs in the industry in respect of world standards fixed for milk and allied products. The dairy has already bagged ISO 14001 in 2004, which recognises it as the only unit in the country producing products suitable to international market.

V Venkatasubramanian, managing director and CEO of Vijaya Dairy, in an interview to Business Standard, said, "The union is targeting Rs 143 crore business for 2005-06 fiscal. It achieved a turnover of Rs 133 crore in 2004-05. The unit is striving to procure on an average 1.85 lakh litre of milk per day this financial year as against 2004-05 average procurement of 1.72 lakh litre per day. Similarly, the union's goal is to touch a milk sale figure of 1.45 lakh litre per day in 2005-06 as against last year's sale of 1.33 lakh litre."

The dairy unit has also obtained a licence to enter food processing industry and would soon manufacture juices and other high acid products.

The union is spending Rs 7 crore to modernise its milk products factory here, and chilling centres, collection points and farmers' cooperatives spread all over the district. The objective is to increase milk procurement and selling capacity by 20,000 litres by next year.

"Vijaya Dairy," he said, "has started exploiting the vast markets of Southeast Asian countries for exporting Vijaya milk and ultra high temperature (UHT) milk varieties, buttermilk, basundi, curd, lassi, butter milk, paneer, cooking butter, milk cake, ghee, skimmed milk powder and khoa to them. From this month, it will supply 25 tonne (Rs 25 lakh) of ghee to Dubai, UAE and other west Asian countries and milk cream to South Africa."

Vijaya exported one container of special UHT milk (Rs 4.5 lakh) to Singapore in July and August.

"Though the demand is for three containers, we are going slow to maintain exemplary quality standards. Milk supplies to Malaysia and other markets in the region are also on the cards," he said

The union has also taken up a project to benefit 7,500 rural women in 100 villages and is organising them to form cooperative societies.