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Thiruvananthapuram Regional Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Ltd (TRCMPU) was registered in 1985,
as a Regional Milk Union with 4 Southern Districts of Kerala viz,Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam,
Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta as its area of operation.
TRCMPU was formed by dividing the area of operation of Kerala Milk Marketing Federation, formed for implementing OF II
project in 1980, in to two viz ERCMPU with 4 northern districts under OF II area, and TRCMPU.
Thiruvananthapuram Regional Co-operative Milk Producers Union has completed 25 years of its operation successfully. It has successfully faced odds like excessive procurement in the initial stages and consequent losses, stagnation of sales in early 1990s and of late shortage of milk and related problems and consequent loss. With such diverse experience in the past and the talent pool it has, it can face any adverse environmental problems successfully. In 1985, Union started operation from the old Thiruvananthapuram Dairy handed over by KLD & MM Board which was selling milk in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts and having a capacity of 40,000 LPD. The first Dairy plant under OF II project in TRCMPU area was commissioned at Kollam with a capacity of 60,000 LPD in 1986. Subsequently Chilling Plants with capacity of 10,000 LPD each were set up at Mannar and Pathanamthitta. New Dairy Plant at Alappuzha with a capacity of 60,000 LPD was commissioned in 1989, and new Dairy Plant with one lakh LPD capacity was commissioned at Thiruvananthapuram in 1992. The Dairy plant at Alappuzha was transferred to KCMMF in 1992 in order to facilitate operation of Powder Plant set up at Alappuzha for handling surplus milk in the State. |
| Year | Milk Procurement(LPD) | Milk Sales(LPD) |
|---|---|---|
| 2000-01 | 231649 | 288334 |
| 2001-02 | 273551 | 298788 |
| 2002-03 | 252521 | 316425 |
| 2003-04 | 205067 | 321806 |
| 2004-05 | 206200 | 354361 |
| 2005-06 | 234280 | 377579 |
| 2006-07 | 254827 | 406890 |
| 2007-08 | 230476 | 402109 |
| 2008-09 | 213085 | 403073 |
| 2009-10 | 191866 | 435861 |
| 2010-11 | 150477 | 434408 |
| 2011-12 | 187768 | 468229 |
| 2012-13 | 206516 | 466199 |
| 2013-14 | 232851 | 460502 |
| 2014-15 | 242979 | 471044 |
| 2015-16 | 241702 | 471140 |
| 2016-17 | 240413 | 486654 |
| 2017-18 | 320394 | 479006 |
| 2018-19 | 331420 | 472163 |
| 2019-20 | 312112 | 473734 |
| 2020-21 | 351683 | 476832 |
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However the growth in procurement has always been lagging as compared to milk sales. Union used to have surplus milk in
the flush season up to 1996. However the fast growth in demand there after and rapid decline in milk production in the
State after 2001, owing to demographic problems like rapid urbanization, diminishing land holding size, transformation
to nuclear families and reduction in family size, due to reduction in population growth, attractive price for cash crops,
shortage of unskilled labour an offshoot of high literacy rate, etc. The demand for milk has been growing rapidly since
the beginning and even the opening up of markets in 1991 did not affect this growth much. Unlike the northern districts
of the State, not many competitors ever came to the market. Union in fact had maximum sales growth during the period
1995-2000. Union has been purchasing milk right from the beginning from the other two sister Unions and also from outside
States mostly Tamil Nadu till 2006.
The Fresh and Glowing Fresher From 2006 onwards, Unions milk deficit shot up due to rise in demand and drop in milk procurement and the milk availability in Tamil Nadu also came down and hence Union was forced to move to Karnataka for meeting its deficit. This reduced availability of milk in the Southern States resulted in the steep increase in milk price in Karnataka and Union started incurring loss on milk purchased from outside. Side by side the price of skim milk powder also sky rocketed. The combined effect of these was the heavy loss to union in 2007-08. Appendix III shows the financial performance of Union since beginning. Unions sales turnover from products has always been below 10% since beginning, since Union never had surplus milk after meeting demand for liquid milk. The Union has a wide range of products listed below. Toned Milk(3% fat, 8.5% SNF) Double Toned Milk(1.5% Fat,8.5% SNF) Cow Milk(3.5% Fat,8.5% SNF) Ghee Butter Ice-cream Curd Ice-lolly Milk-lolly Peda Sambharam(buttermilk) Yoghurt Shrikand The milk and products except ice-cream and milk-lolly are marketed under the brand name "milma". Milk is marketed in only in sachets and the variants of milk marketed are Toned milk 70-75% of sale High fat milk (4.5/85 and 3.8/9) Double toned milk Cow milk(Milma jersey) |