Pelwatte Dairy to export powdered milk
Invests Rs. 1.8 Bn for factory in Kurunegala:
Wins ‘People’s Pinnacle Best Dairy Products Brand of year’ award:
Reversing the milk powder import trend in Sri Lanka, one of the largest dairy processing factories, Pelwatte Dairy Industries Ltd, will be opening their first export plant in Kurunegala mainly focusing on exports.
Founder and Chairman Ariyaseela Wickramanayake said that they have invested over Rs. 1.8 billion for state of the art equipment and other infrastructure for this venture which will be opening at the end of February and will further invest Rs. 2 billion for expansion next year.”
He said that this is a major milestone since their over a decade journey starting with the opening of their first factory in Pelwatte in Monaragala.
Wickramanayake that the aim of starting exports is to bring in foreign income into the country whilst also reducing the outflow of foreign exchange from imports which has now come down from around USD 350 million per annum to around USD 100 million.
The country now has sufficient milking cows and is moving towards self-sufficientcy in milk production, making imports unnecessary.
“We have played a major role towards reducing milk powder imports and our efforts were also recognized at the recently concluded Pinnacle Awards ceremony where Pelwatte Dairy Industries won the ‘Peoples Pinnacle Best Dairy Products Brand of year’ award.”
Wickramanayake also disclosed that Pelwatte Dairy currently invests around Rs. 12 billion annually in purchasing fresh milk from farmers across the country.
“With the opening of a second factory in Kurunegala, Pelwatte Dairy plans to double its fresh milk intake to Rs. 24 billion.”
He said that this will be the first time Powdered Milk would be exported in bulk form. “Our export markets will include the Middle East, Male and from 2026, Japan.”
“When these exports come on line Sri Lanka will be able to get around USD 30 million annually from milk powder exports also adding a new product to Sri Lanka’s export catalogue.”
He also disclosed plans to export milk powder to China after the FTA is signed between China and Sri Lanka and later to Russia as well.
“We are currently exporting butter and Ice Cream to the Maldives and with the new factory in Kurunegala we will start exports to Seychelles and Mauritius as well.”
Pelwatte as part of its food safety strategy has introduced the Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) framework and also adopted the ISO 45001 standard ensuring that all products meet global food safety requirements.
Pelwatte introduces ‘Dairy Milk Farmer Pension scheme’
For the first time in Sri Lanka Pelwatte Dairy Industries Ltd, will initiate a ‘Pelwatte Dairy Milk Farmer Pension scheme’ and become the first private entity to do so.
Founder and Chairman Ariyaseela Wickramanayake said that they will be working with AIA insurance in this regard.
Explaining the model they adopt he said that they have talked with their liquid milk suppliers who have agreed to reduce 8% from a liter of milk and the company too will add 12% per liter and this saving would be deposited in a special fund. Interest would be accumulated in this fund.
“When the farmer retires we will present this as a pension to him/her making dairy farming a pensionable job for the first time.” In addition to this we have also launched another CSR scheme to provide ‘chicks’ to dairy farmer families so that they could have their own poultry.
(SS)
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