The graph below shows the world sales of LDPs until 2008 and projections for consumption until 2012, that were made in mid 2009 by Tetra Pak. This information is contained in Issue 1 of the Tetra Pak Dairy Index – A biannual news and information source about the dairy industry.

Interesting as well as the growth in total consumption, is the apparent growth in powder and ambient ready to drink milk (RTD) or essentially long-life packaged milks. The report states that:

India has 300 million head of dairy cattle — roughly 1/5 of the world’s total bovine population. However, most of these cows belong to farmers in small villages, whose entire herd comprises two to three animals
Every day: 70 million farmers milk 105 million cows in 50,000 villages and the national milk grid transports the milk (an average of 1-2 litres per farmer) to more than 700,000 cities in India

This is a real tribute to a milk collection and distribution system, that is co-operative based and has its origins some 40 years ago.

Another document available for free from The ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) through Anancy.

This uninspiring cover hides the value of the information and misleads on it breadth – it covers processing and business issues in 16 pages of concise and clear information.

The information covers post harvest handling, quality, hygiene, drying, heat treatment, concentration, pulping and pasting. It includes a very interesting process for the large scale production of paste using muslin bag filtration.

(click the image to open website)