A TRADE mission left for India recently in a bid to promote Victorian dairy products.
Led by Victorian Department of Primary Industries market development manager Peter Myers, the group, including six processors, will visit major markets showcasing their products.
Victorian Agriculture Minister Joe Helper said the decision by the Indian Government to approve a new quarantine system for the health certification of Australian milk products had opened the region for exports.
"As a result, demand is likely to be strong for Australian products, especially milk powders, butter oil, specialty cheeses and, potentially, yoghurt," he said.
"Australian dairy exports to India were worth $6 million alone back in 2003 and given that Victoria is the major producer and exporter of dairy products from Australia, we are well placed to take advantage of this developing new market."
India produces at a total of 104 million tonnes of milk, including 44 million tonnes of cow's milk from about 46 million cows. The balance comes mainly from its herd of about 38 million buffaloes.
The country, whose population exceeds one billion, imports only 62 tonnes of skim-milk powder and 362 tonnes of butter oil, but exports 41 million tonnes of dairy products, including skim-milk power, whole-milk powder, butter oil, condensed milk and other milk powder.
Dairy Australia trade and strategy manager Chris Phillips said the Australian dairy industry welcomed the re-opening of the Indian dairy market and said, like many other parts of Asia, dairy demand had been growing in India. He said he expected this to continue.
"At this stage, we expect Australian dairy exports to India will concentrate on sales of value- added consumer lines and niche-market specialty ingredients," Mr Phillips said.
"So we don't expect the trade will compete heavily with mainstream Indian production, but take on a more complementary role in helping expand the overall market."
Companies heading to India include Ballantyne Foods, Bemco Australia, Fresh Cheese Company (Aust), Longwarry Food Park, Lemnos Foods and Tatura Milk Industries.
