Visakha Dairy to supply 2 lakh litres of milk to TN co-op body

The Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, which markets Aavin brand of milk, has approached the Sri Vijaya Visakha Milk Producers Company (Visakha Dairy) for supply of two lakh liters of milk per month in tetra packs.

Visakha Dairy, which is the largest cooperative in the state, has a 40000-liter per day capacity tetra unit here. The company markets 10,000 liters in tetra packs under the Visakha Dairy brand besides supplying 30,000 liters to the Gujarat Milk Federation under the Amul brand.

"Recently, the representatives of the TN Milk Cooperative Federation visited our plant and sought supply of milk under their Aavin brand. Initially, they want us to supply two lakh liters of milk per month, which is about 5 days of our total plant capacity. We will soon start the supplies," D Venkata Rao, managing director, Visakha Dairy, told Business Standard.

The Karnataka-based Kolar Milk Union also depended on Visakha Dairy for supply of tetra milk for some months.

"We supplied three lakh liters per month in tetra packs to the union for five to six months. However, they cancelled the contract recently due to increase in milk prices," he said.

Keeping in mind the demand for milk supplies in tetra packs, Visakha Dairy is making efforts to reduce the cost of tetra packaging.

At present, tetra packaging costs about Rs 5.50 per liter as against Rs 1 in ordinary polythene bags. "If we can reduce the cost of packaging, many dairies would prefer to use our plant," he stated.

Apart from this, Visakha Dairy is planning to set up 15000-20000 liter capacity new tetra pack unit at Ramgampet in East Godavari district. The dairy is setting up a 2.5-lakh liter capacity milk processing unit in East Godavari district.

In this plant, Visakha Dairy is planning to install one tetra packaging unit with a daily capacity of 15000-20000 liters, according to Venkat Rao.