Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Ministry of Industry said it is bolstering the competitiveness of the national dairy industry through the digitalization of milk collection points to strengthen the domestic fresh milk supply chain.Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita stated that milk is a strategic commodity that plays an important role in supporting food security and improving the quality of human resources by improving public nutrition.”The dairy industry plays a very important role in supporting improvements in public nutrition. Indonesia's relatively low level of milk consumption actually presents a major opportunity for the future development of the national dairy industry,” the minister said in a statement here on Wednesday.According to him, the step to digitalize milk collection points is expected to improve efficiency, transparency, and the quality of raw materials to support the sustainable development of the national dairy processing industry.Meanwhile, the Nusantara Milk Day (HSN) 2026, commemorated on June 1, served as a momentum to increase public milk consumption while strengthening the domestic dairy industry through downstreaming, improved raw material quality, product innovation, and stronger partnerships between dairy processors and farmers.Based on data from the World Population Review in 2022, Indonesia's milk consumption stood at around 17.76 liters per capita annually. The figure remains lower than that of Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.Meanwhile, the national dairy processing industry requires around five million tons of fresh milk equivalent annually, with approximately 80 percent of that demand still met through imports.As of 2024, the digitalization program had been implemented at 96 milk collection points under nine cooperatives in West Java and East Java, involving more than 12,000 dairy farmers.In addition to digitalizing milk collection points, the ministry has also developed a domestic fresh milk supply monitoring application to track the availability of raw materials for the industry.