Pine Hill Dairy (PHD) has been granted permission to import processed milk from a neighbouring Caribbean island to meet the anticipated demand for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup, dairy officials have confirmed.
The company on Tuesday disclosed that the licence to import milk is not intended to extend beyond this year. Pine Hill Dairy is the sole entity allowed to import milk.
Details of the source, importation cost and quantity were not made available. The island’s sole milk processor said the venture was necessary to avert shortages during the T20 World Cup and the Crop Over Festival.
In a statement, Shafia London, country manager of PHD’s parent company Banks Holdings Ltd, said milk demand had returned to pre-COVID-19 levels and in light of the upcoming national activities, a decision was made to import ultra-processed milk.
“We at PINEHILL are truly appreciative of the financial considerations extended to our dairy farmers in last month’s parliamentary budgetary presentation, but we recognise that with the best of intentions, we are not likely to see a return on those initiatives and a resulting increase in raw milk production, until later this year.
“Given that Barbados has happily returned to the pre-COVID-19 milk demand levels, we consulted with our dairy farmers and submitted a proposal to Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir to permit the short-term importation of processed milk from CARICOM (Caribbean Community) sources to assist us in meeting the anticipated increased milk demand through the ICC World Cup and the 2024 Crop Over season.
“The imported milk will be used primarily to service the hospitality sector while the locally processed milk will be retained for our local consumers,” the statement said, adding that the importation was “not intended to be a commercial venture, but rather a measure to ensure that the country had access to milk inventory over the upcoming busy periods”.
“We are confident that our dairy farmers will be able to meet 100 per cent of PINEHILL’s needs again by year-end,” it added.
The first shipment of the imported milk is anticipated to be here and distributed by the end of May.
Weir was reported in another section of the media as confirming that PHD was the only business granted permission to import milk but did not reveal the CARICOM source of the product.
He was quoted as saying: “We are not going to open the floodgates so that any and everybody can start importing milk. This is for a set period and during that period, PHD would be solely responsible for getting the additional supply through a CARICOM source . . . .”
The importation move has gained the support of domestic milk producers. Annette Beckett, the president of the Barbados Beef and Dairy Association, said farmers were glad that a system was in place to avert a shortage.
She reminded Barbadians that the dairy industry was in a precarious position and it was important for the island to meet World Cup demands.
“We had indicated that we didn’t have a problem with the importation because we understand where we are in terms of milk production. Our only concern was that the licence was solely granted to them,” she said.
Milk production has been at a low over the past several months. Farmers, in collaboration with the Barbados Agricultural Society and the government, are importing about 320 pregnant heifers this year, with the hope of boosting production.
Farmers are also to benefit from an incentive package organised by the government, which includes a hay programme and a greater rebate system.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
