Milk: Is it a product or a commodity, or a concept?

Milk: Is it a product or a commodity, or a concept?

Take a guess. . . .

If it is a commodity, then there should be no differentiation between the various "types" of milk being sold in urban and bought in rural areas.

Interestingly, it is considered a "commodity" by the organised players. For the marketers, all milk produced in the country from cows, buffaloes, goats, sheep, camel, and donkeys (!) can be generalised to milk fat, SNF (Solids not Fat), and water and the percentage of each will decide the price. Interestingly, one prominent player has entered the "camel milk" business this way! Seriously. The same players who call themselves "marketers" say they are selling a "product", not a commodity and charge their consumers 2-3 times the farmgate price they paid!

Interestingly, they use the very same metric, viz. % of milk fat, % of SnF and % of water to segment the market and charge a differential price! Marketers use colour, design, and pack type on the packaging as the differentiator for pricing! And there is no differentiation between fresh milk and "reconstituted" milk made from milk fat, SNF and water! But in line with the legal standard written when India had a milk deficit. Laughable but true!

The policymakers think that milk is neither a product nor a commodity but a "concept", which can be created by mixing milk powder and butter oil with water. Hence, these could come anywhere from the milk of any animal and fed any feed and given any water and purchased ages ago! To top it, in the name of "protecting" the domestic producer and consumer, applying a blanket ban on import/export. Regulators and Government led institutions have also become market players in the name of public interest/welfare, obliterating the china wall between the state (regulator) and the market!

Consumers, especially the urban consumers, have little choice but to buy and drink this "concept" called milk and be satisfied that they and their children are drinking what they consider "milk"!

I have not touched on what is sold as milk products, like ghee, paneer, milk sweets, etc. All one needs to say is that trade in milk products isis as profitable as in jewellery (Marwaris run both!). Some sell probiotics like buttermilk and lassi, which are supposed to contain live non-pathogenic and beneficial bacteria and consumed within 24 hours of production as a sterilised product (killing all bacteria), in TetraPak and sold for consumption upto 3-6 months from the manufacture!

For now, I just want you to think about this issue. Yes, we as a society need to think and ensure that the state and market play their respective role diligently and dutifully.

Hint: Every drop of liquid sold as "milk" in New Zealand is assured as fresh cow milk from known animals/farms by the New Zealand Dairy Board!

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