By Babra Anyait
Milk producers in Uganda are calling for more dairy suppliers to join the market in a bid to close the existing demand gap.
Speaking to journalists at the East African Business Expo, Rachael Arinaitwe the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Milk said that investors put a lot of money into the production plants but the market has a few suppliers.
Arinaitwe also noted that consumption statistics came down due to the cost of production and taxation at every stage yet the country aims at taking it to 20 billion litres.
She further explained that the national milk consumption in Uganda is still low, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.
“What affects the cost of milk production is the fact that milk is taxed at different levels of production, for instance, when we get it directly from the farmers that milk is taxed, there is a levy that is attached to it. At the end of it all when we give it (milk) to our end users, we also have to pay URA taxes,” Arinaitwe said.
