New Bottled Milk Hits the Market

Produced by Kok manufacturing Plc, Bobo, a new bottled flavored milk, has hit Ethiopia’s markets. The bottled milk that comes in 150 ml does not require refrigeration and can last for six months without expiring.

Bobo milk is being sold at 15 birr in retail shops in the capital, a price tag equivalent to 500 ml pasteurized milk.

Kok’s plant is located in the Eastern Industrial Zone (EIZ) Dukem, a small town some 35 km. South-east of Addis Ababa.

The Chinese owned industrial zone hosts 400 companies ranging from shoe manufacturers and steelmakers to leather processors and car assemblers.

Built at the cost of half a billion dollars on five square kilometers of land in 2008, EIZ is also the first privately owned industrial zone in Ethiopia.

Bobo joins the diary sector that had been growing by 4.1pc annually. There are around 40 milk processing companies in the country with a combined processing capacity of 200,000lt of milk a day – a figure that has doubled from five years ago.

Per capita, milk consumption is very low in Ethiopia, estimated at about 20 liters, though rising consumption has brought about 40 liters in Addis Ababa. 

Ethiopia produces about 4 billion liters of milk per year from 10 million dairy cows. In the past fiscal year, Ethiopia earned 72 million dollars from the export of meat and dairy products.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommends that the per capita milk consumption be about 200 liters meaning at the current production rate, there’s an annual shortage of about 18 billion liters.

Dairy sector Role players state that the milk processing industry in Ethiopia faces many problems, with the major one being local breed cows not being able to provide more than 1.5 liters per cow per day. In the UK, the average cow produces about 25 – 30 liters.

In addition, the rising cost of milk has consequently led to a decrease in consumption. The country’s current per capita milk production of milk is lower than what it used to be 25 years ago.

Bobo is an international brand produced by Bobos Food & Beverage Limited, a Nigerian based fruit milk producer. 

However, both the Ethiopian manufacturer and the Nigerian based producers did not reply to questions regarding the arrangement of the deal that led to the production of Bobo Milk in Ethiopia.