According to dairy producers, demand for fresh milk and dairy products in Kathmandu Valley -- the largest market in the country -- has gone down by almost 50 percent after the earthquake."Demand for fresh milk and other dairy products has come down at such an alarming rate that private dairy firms might have to shut down their operations soon," Pralhad Dahal, general secretary of Dairy Association of Nepal (DAN), told Republica. "Demand for fresh milk has dropped to around 300,000 liters per day from average daily demand of around 600,000 liters before the earthquake."
Though supply of milk by farmers had dropped significantly after the earthquake, it has started to pick up gradually. But demand has not increased in the same ratio. On top of that, dairy farms have huge volume of powdered milk in stock. Few months ago, dairy farms had boosted their powdered milk stock following drastic drop in price in India.
"Hundreds of thousands of valley denizens have left for their respective village after the earthquake. This has directly affected demand for milk and dairy products," Dahal said, adding that dairy firms might have to declare 'milk holiday' if demand doesn't pick up in coming days.
Milk holiday refers to a situation when dairy firms refuse to buy fresh milk from farmers citing low demand amid high supply.
Officials of Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) also said demand for milk has fallen in Kathmandu Valley after the earthquake. "Demand has dropped by around 40 percent," Madhav Ojha, business head of DDC -- the state-owned dairy producer -- told Republica. He, however, said DDC was in no mood of declaring 'milk holiday'.
Ganga Timsina, general manager of DDC, said they were seeing surplus of 40,000 liters of milk every day. "We have sufficient stock of powdered milk and supply of fresh milk is also increasing. However, demand is not increasing in Kathmandu Valley," Timsina said. "We might not declare 'milk holiday' right now. But it will be a challenge for us to clear our powdered milk stock amid falling demand and rising supply of fresh milk by farmers."
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