Pelawatte milk powder soon

by Shirajiv Sirimane

The Pelawatte Sugar Company will manufacture 100 percent locally produced milk powder for the first time in Sri Lanka and it will be available in the local market from next month.

Chairman, Master Divers and Pelawatte Sugar Company, Ariyaseela Wickramanayake told the Sunday Observer that ‘Pelawatte milk powder’ would be considerably cheaper than the imported milk powder and it would have a big impact on imported milk products.

He said that the Pelawatte Sugar Company has invested Rs. 1.8 billion to launch the project and in addition to powdered milk, other by-products such as butter, yoghurt, cheese and liquid milk too will be available.

“The state-of-the-art machinery was imported from Denmark and the factory is one of the best in the world.” He said that it was unfortunate that the country spends over Rs. 3.2 billion to import milk annually when Sri Lanka can be self-sufficient in dairy products.

“This was one reason for us to invest in local milk production and we hope to cater to 20 percent of the local requirements in three years,” he said.

The project will provide direct employment opportunities to over 100 persons while it would also create over 1,000 jobs for dairy farmers. Wickramanayake said that the Government’s decision to ban the slaughter of cows too has helped the industry in a big way.