The TetraPak dairy index, released in July, predicts that dairy product consumption will increase worldwide by 30 per cent between 2010 and 2020. Drivers are economic growth, urbanization and the rising purchasing power of Asia’s middle class. By 2014, packaged milk will outsell “loose milk” in the developing world for the first time.
Loose milk is delivered to mostly rural homes in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by milkmen carrying unpasteurized milk in metal cans on bicycles and mopeds. It is poured into jars and bottles. As more people live in cities, and food must be moved further, packaged milk sales will grow. In India, loose milk still accounts for more than 70 per cent of white milk sales.