Milma looks to new products, including baby food, to match competition

The Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), which sells milk and milk products under the Milma brand, is looking to new value-added products, including baby food, to meet challenges from both private brands and milk cooperatives.

The slew of new value-added products will add a new chapter to the history of the apex milk cooperative in the State which has tasted success from the efforts under the ‘Repositioning Milma’ campaign launched in 2023. The campaign included more attractive packaging, achieving unified price for different markets as well as innovation on the product line.

KCMMF chairperson M. S. Mani said that the recently-commissioned milk powder plant in Moorkanad in Malappuram will help Milma explore new product avenues. Baby food is just one of the products that will strengthen the Milma brand, made possible through the establishment of a 10-tonne capacity milk powder plant which can process up to one lakh litres of milk per day.

The Kerala cooperative pays the highest milk price to farmers and is also a State where the cost of milk production is the highest. But the cooperative has stood by the farmers, distributing the bulk of its net profit in milk price and incentives. Milma pays about 84% of the sales money to the dairy farmers.

Export licence

Milma has come out with dark chocolate and the clarified butter (ghee) from the Pathanamthitta plant has obtained export licence to the U.S., the U.K., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Mauritius, Singapore and Malaysia.

The three regions comprising Malabar, Ernakulam, and Thiruvananthapuram account for around 3,300 primary milk cooperatives and 12 lakh farmers. Milma procures 11.5 lakh litres a day and sells 16.5 lakh litres.

Meanwhile, Milma has relaunched its brand of ice-cream by joining the trends and implementing a unified quality system along with new design and a focus on five popular flavours.

Mr. Mani, who launched the products, recalled that Milma had unified the quality and packaging of its milk, yogurt, ghee and flavoured milk products two years ago as part of the Repositioning Milma campaign. He said that vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, mango and butterscotch are the most popular flavours.

He pointed out that there is high demand for Milma ice-cream, but a lack of refrigeration network has affected its distribution. Regional unions have taken the initiative and started efforts to find a solution, the chairperson added.

Source : Dairynews7x7 MArch 24th 2025 The Hindu