January 17: Due to the decline in consumption of dairy products in the market, the stock of powdered milk and butter has increased. Dairy industries have not paid the farmers for the milk as the produced milk products are stored in warehouses and have not been sold.

The dairy industry operators are worried that the stored products might deteriorate. However, both the government and the industry do not have the actual data of the stock of milk products available and their price. Both the government and the dairy induatry blame each other for the lack of reliable data. The National Dairy Development Board under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development had said four months ago that there were about 400,000 metric tons of milk powder and butter worth Rs 6 billion in stock after milk consumption decreased due to economic recession. Less than a month later, the board said that dairy products worth Rs 9.41 billion were available. The industrialists are saying that they have stock of powdered milk and butter worth Rs 5 billion.

Stakeholders have admitted that neither the government nor the industrialists have the exact details of the real data of the stock of dairy products. Acting Executive Director of the Board Balak Chaudhary admits that the board does not have reliable data because the dairy industry did not provide them with reliable data.

“We provide the same data that the entrepreneurs give us. Since the board does not produce powdered milk and butter itself, we do not know how much stock is available in the industry. In the meantime, it is also possible that the data has decreased due to the sale of stocked items,'' Chaudhary told New Business Age, adding, “But according to the industrialists, the sale of dairy products has not increased so the data might have changed marginally.”

Sumit Kedia, the former president of Nepal Dairy Association, said that because the consumption of milk in the market has decreased, the stock may have increased rather than decreased.

According to him, both the private sector and government organizations have stock of powdered milk and butter worth about Rs 5 billion. "Since the consumption of milk has decreased by 15 to 20 percent, there is a possibility that the amount of stock may increase further. If we don't find a solution to it in time, the stock might possibly deteriorate," he said.

Regarding the non-uniformity in the data, he said that the government should be serious about this as it is the government’s responsibility to keep accurate data. He added that the board is preparing to publish a new data within a few days in coordination with the industrialists, so there will be no errors in the upcoming data.

About 6.2 million liters of milk is produced in Nepal every day. Out of that, 3.1 million liters of milk is supplied to the market daily. The private sector has invested Rs 45 billion in Nepal's dairy industry. They pay an annual revenue of Rs 2 billion to the government. About 600, 000 people have got direct employment in this sector.