APM Terminals Pipavav inks pacts with Gujarat Maritime Board, Welspun Group Private port operator APM Terminals Pipavav has inked two initial pacts with the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) and Welspun Group for port infra development and green hydrogen ecosystem. Under its collaboration with GMB, the company plans to invest Rs 3,320 crore in setting up of liquid and container berths and a yard, among others. “APM Terminals Pipavav is committed to the community, environment and to the region. By signing path breaking MOUs predominantly in the capital investment and green hydrogen space at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, we bring together all the parties required to make this a success and reiterate our commitment to the state of Gujarat,” the port operator’s Managing Director Girish Aggarwal said. As part of the pact with GMB, the two partners will facilitate necessary permissions for the construction of liquid berth, container berth and a yard, container handling equipment, and marine infrastructure development at Pipavav Port, estimated at the cost of Rs 3,320 crore. This would create jobs and economic growth through infrastructure development, the statement said. Regarding its partnership with Welspun, APM Terminals Pipavav said the two sides will explore opportunities for the development of green hydrogen facilities on land provided by the port. Green hydrogen is produced from water and renewable energy. Among others, it can be a replacement for fossil fuels and also be a sustainable industrial raw material.
Retail inflation in milk was reported at 8.85% in May 2023. The milk inflation has remained elevated at over 6% since August 2022. Despite India being the largest milk producer since 1998, the commodity has been the second biggest factor after cereals such as rice and wheat in driving up retail inflation in the last fiscal.
Milk has the second highest weight in the food and beverages basket of the consumer price index at 6.61%, a notch lower than cereals and products with a 9.67% weight. Organised players, including Mother Dairy and Amul, hiked prices multiple times in the last one year citing higher fodder cost, robust demand and some impact due to reports of lumpy skin disease.
Industry sources said feed cost, which has a share of more than 65% in the cost of production of milk, has increased to Rs 20/kg from Rs 8 a year ago. The finance ministry in April had attributed the elevated milk inflation to a demand supply mismatch and said it could be one of the factors apart from volatile international crude oil prices and constrained supplies of milk would influence the country’s inflation trajectory.
“Milk production has been impacted by a lumpy skin disease infecting millions of cattle in late 2022,” the ministry said in the monthly economic review, adding that the vaccination drive against the disease is expected to curb the spread and immune the cattle against the skin disease.
According to official data, currently India is the world’s largest milk producer, and has a share of 23% in global milk production. For the first time in decades, the country’s milk production is likely to have stagnated in 2022-23 due to Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle across several states and the lagged effect of Covid-19 in the form of stunting of the animals, a senior official with department of animal husbandry and dairying recently had stated. The milk production was estimated at 221 million tonne in 2021-22.