Milma forced to import milk powder

Thiruvananthapuram: The acute shortage in milk procurement has forced the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma) to import skimmed milk powder from Ireland, which would be re-constituted to meet the requirement of liquid milk in the State.

This is the first time that Milma has had to import milk powder. The first consignment of 1,000 tonnes is expected to reach here by Monday. Milma is trying to get about 3,000 tonnes, which it hopes will help tide over the situation till June, when the internal milk procurement is expected to improve, senior officials at KCMMF said