Amul plans to set up manufacturing plant in US

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Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Limited (KDCMPU), a part of GCMMF, on Saturday said its plans to establish a manufacturing plant in the US to produce dairy products such as ghee and paneer are afoot.

"There is great potential in Europe and US for Amul products. Plans are afoot to establish our own manufacturing facility in the US, initially we would start with manufacturing of ghee and paneer," KDCMPU Chairman Ramsinh Parmar said in a statement.

"We shall shortly finalise steps to be taken in this direction to ensure that quality dairy products are made available in these countries," he said.

Meanwhile, the procurement price of milk has risen to Rs425 per kilo litre of fat, as compared to Rs334 last year.

"The member unions of GCMMF like Banaskantha and Sabarkantha dairies have begun paying the farmers Rs425 per kilo litre of fat," GCMMF chairman Parthi Bhatol said.

Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets its product under brand name 'Amul', has 13 dairy unions as its members, including KDCMPU.

The procurement price of milk has shot up by Rs25 per kilo litre of fat in last two months, he added.

However, Bhatol ruled out the possibility of passing on the burden of hike in milk procurement prices to the consumers in short term.

"We do not have any immediate plans to hike the milk prices," he said.

In the fiscal ended March 31, 2011, GCMMF had registered a total turnover of $2.2 billion and has set a target of touching Rs12,000 crore in the current fiscal.