Of its four variants, the dairy has been marketing only two products— standardised milk ‘Shakti’ and toned milk under the brand name ‘Cold Gold’ in the Goan retail market.
A source from the dairy revealed that they are now solely dependent on the 48,000-odd litres of cow milk and 2,000-odd litres of buffalo milk produced within the state.
The standardised milk ‘Shakti’ (green packets comprising 4.5% fat and 8.5% SNF) has a sale of around 36,000 litres and another 12,000 litres of ‘Cold Gold’ (blue packets with 3% fat and 8.5% SNF).
Goa consumes around three lakh litres of milk every day, of which Goa Dairy used to supply around 60,000 to 62,000 litres per day, while the remaining requirements are being met by outside producers, including major players such as Amul, Warana, Gokul, etc.
Since Goa has been producing around 48,000 litres of milk per day, Goa Dairy used to procure the balance quota of milk from the neighbouring states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. However, since the dairy has stopped procuring milk from these states, it has been compelled to stop production of two popular variants – Full Cream (orange packets with 6% fat and 9% SNF), and Cow Milk (red packets with 3.5% fat and 8.5% SNF).
The period from February to July is considered a lean season for milk production in Goa as the procurement dips, which then witnesses a rise in the flush season.
Facing the scarcity, the dairy was mulling to restart procurement of cow milk from Karnataka to meet its daily demand. The apex cooperative unit in Goa used to procure cow milk from Maharashtra and Karnataka a decade ago, prior to 2012, as the dairy had more sales than local procurement. Since 2012, the dairy procures only buffalo milk (high fat) from a Karnataka unit as Goa does not produce the required quantity of buffalo milk.
However, procurement has been halted for the past three months, forcing dairy consumers to purchase milk from other dairies
