Drink Asia July August 2019 | Page 35

for value-added dairy products as compared to the base product, liquid milk. For example, doctors today have started recommending Pro-Biotic drinks to consumers with digestive issues. Such recommendations make a lot of impact on the consumers’ purchase patterns and to the overall industry. Evolving financial trends With the rise in personal disposable income, consumers today have the spending power to purchase value-added products which are priced significantly higher in comparison to liquid milk. At the same time, increased income has also given rise to the trend of eating out and a sudden increase in the number of restaurants and café chains which have become one of the largest buyers for cheese, milk, paneer and other such value-added products. Easy availability of the primary product and strategic pricing The fact that India is one of the largest producers of milk in the world has proved to work in favour of the Dairy Industry. Large farms have set up across the country to fulfill the ever-rising demand. This has also led to betterment in the quality of these products which is due to an improvement in the quality of milk. Milk is now procured directly and this has acted as a catalyst in the process of reducing prices as now the need for middlemen is eliminated. Also, the traditional mental block, which emphasizes the need for state of the art and expensive technology in order to produce value-added milk products, has been overcome. Funding from major companies in order to set up the divergence from the production of only liquid milk to these value-added products has been of great help in the development of the value-added products sector. Companies that go along with the recent changes and go on to upgrade themselves have borne the rewards for these. Tailoring in the DNA of a dairy products’ company has vitalized their output and hence, the economy of the firm and the industry at large. Their profit can be increased by allocating a budget for extensive marketing and advertising to keep themselves ahead of their competitors. Drink Asia 35 July-August 2019