Jamshedpur: Amul Dairy is setting up a milk processing plant at Chandil in adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district, about 30km from here, that is expected to be operational from the first week of September.

A senior official of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), that has a branch office in Ranchi, said the plant would sell Amul branded milk in major cities of the state, including Jamshedpur and Ranchi.

"We are already supplying various dairy milk products across Jharkhand. But setting up a plant at Chandil in Seraikela-Kharsawan district will make marketing operations easier," said Ranchi branch manager Biswajit Kumar, adding that they were presently carrying out a survey in some of the cities of the state.

"We are conducting surveys in Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Hazaribagh and Dhanbad. We are trying to assess consumption patterns of dairy milk being supplied by other companies. We will then get an idea of fixing production targets at our Chandil plant," he said.

At present, Sudha Dairy of Bihar, which has a processing plant at Adityapur industrial area, is the main supplier of milk, in pouches, and other dairy products like curd, cheese and butter in Jharkhand.

According to sources in the state animal husbandry department, Jharkhand requires around 5 lakh litre milk daily. Of this, around 3 lakh litre is provided by Sudha Dairy.

Rajesh Badani, owner of a general store at Bistupur who sells Sudha Dairy products, suggested there was room for another major player in Jharkhand.

"The quality of Sudha Dairy is not the same as it was 20 years ago. But if Amul starts processing milk at a place near the city and starts supplies, then our customers will have a reason to cheer," Badani said, who sells around 300 litre of Sudha Dairy milk daily.

Badani, however, added that Amul would have to provide milk twice a day like Sudha Dairy does, something consumers in the steel city preferred.