Mother Dairy edible oil production, sales drop 35-40 percent post lockdown

Leading milk supplier Mother Dairy, which sells cooking oils under Dhara brand, on Monday said the company’s production and sales of edible oils have been hit by 35-40 percent post nationwide lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19.
According to a PTI report: While production has been hit due to labour shortages and logistics issues, the demand is down because of closures of hotels, restaurants and cafeterias that contribute a significant part of sales.
Mother Dairy used to produce 650 tonnes of edible oils per day before the lockdown. The sales per day were also in the same range.
Responding to an e-mail query, Mother Dairy spokesperson said the impact on business has been in the range of 35-40 percent during this lockdown period.
“Initially there was a significant decline in production after lockdown as labour and manpower were unavailable. However, the issues are being addressed gradually.
There is a demand for our product as it’s an essential food item, however, due to logistical issues and closure of business establishments sales have been impacted,” the spokesperson told PTI.
Asked whether the company increased prices of cooking oils after lockdown, the spokesperson said the price revision is a routine activity in our business due to volatility in raw material prices.
“Prices were not changed due to lockdown announcement but were changed as a routine business exercise,” the spokesperson was quoted by PTI as saying.
Mother Dairy has an annual production capacity of 2 lakh tonnes and approximately the same is the demand of Dhara.
“We operate with 18 third party packing units. All these plants are strictly following safety and hygiene guidelines announced by the government,” the spokesperson further told PTI.