Visakhapatnam :
Visakha Dairy plant, which is under construction at Rangampeta in East Godavari district, will be ready by August-September, according to Chairman, A. Tulasi Rao.
He was speaking to reporters at the Visakha Dairy plant here on Sunday after releasing a new product — 100-ml toned milk in tetra pak at Rs 5.
He said the dairy was selling 75,000 litres of high quality milk per day with varying fat content in toned, double toned, skimmed and standard milk variants. The dairy aims at a target of 1 lakh litres per day by the end of the year.
The 100-ml Visakha Tetra Pak is aimed at the lower-end consumer, combining the twin features of affordability and single use. The product would be sold in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.
He said that the plant could process 6 lakh litres per day. Visakha Dairy is procuring milk from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and the two Godavari districts.
“We are setting up the Rangampeta processing plant at a cost of Rs 20 crore with a capacity of 2.5 lakh litres to 3 lakh litres, as it is becoming increasing difficult to bring milk all the way from the two Godavari districts. We have to cut down on the transport costs. We tried to acquire the sick Godavari Dairy and turn it around, but the Government was not very keen on it. Therefore, we decided to put up a plant on our own,’’ he said.
Rao said that Visakha Dairy is procuring milk from more than 2 lakh farmers in the five districts, covering 2,800 villages.
“Our primary objective is to provide quality milk and milk products to consumers and at the same time do justice to our farmers by paying them a remunerative price. Of course, a balance has to be struck between the two aims. We have set up a hospital with excellent facilities here for the sake of the farmers and staff and we also try to provide educational facilities to the children of the farmers,’’he said.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Companies / by Ch. R. S. Sarma sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in / Visakhapatnam – May 05th, 2013