The importers had approached India last year and placed some orders, as they first wanted to check the quality of Indian commodity, and after satisfying, orders gradually increased.
Importers said that the commodity is being imported at the rate of $1900 to $2000 per ton.
"The prices of Indian dry milk are less than other countries and the transit time is shorter. So, we decided to initiate this trade on trial basis," said Haroon Agar, a leading importer.
He added that average quality of dry milk is being imported from India keeping in view the purchasing power of common man.
He said that prices of this commodity in the international market have shot up by 25 percent and it is now available at $2300 per ton. "This situation had compelled us to search for new avenues, and finally we found India that quoted us justified rates," he said.
Citing reasons for price hike in international market, one importer said that the trade of agricultural commodity, especially dry milk, in European countries was enjoying complete subsidy up to 2002, but it has now been reduced to just 20 percent, which helped the prices to skyrocket and had negative impact on dry milk imports.
The gurus of this trade said that different investors in India have set up thousands of big dairies and if government reduces import duties sharply, the import process would expedite substantially.
"We are paying different duties and taxes to the government on import of dry milk, including 6 percent income tax and 25 percent import duty, and after the inclusion of all the aggregate duties and taxes, it stands at 36 percent," said another importer.
"Due to the increased duties and taxes, the commodity becomes so expensive when consignments reach the country, and in this situation we could not offer consumers concession," he added.
Another importer, Abdul Rahim Janoo said: "Dry milk consumption in the country stands at 35,000 tons, while local production is just 10,000 tons, and this gap of 25,000 tons is to be filled by importing the commodity every year."
According to statistics, during 2004-05, around 12,300 tons dry milk was imported, against 9,750 tons during 2003-04.
Other than India, the importers are also engaged in importing dry milk from Sweden, United Kingdom, Ireland, Holland, Ukraine and Czechoslovakia. However, skimmed milk powder (from which ice-cream is prepared) is being imported mainly from Poland, Australia, New Zealand and India.