Food and agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank said the program was currently being rolled out across 400,000 schools in Indonesia.
It’s part of the recently elected Indonesian Government’s new Nutritious Meals Program, aiming to combat malnutrition and promote healthy eating among the country’s 60 million school children, as well as in pregnant women.
It aims to provide food, including milk, to every student on every school day by 2029.
The school milk program is expected to significantly increase Indonesia’s total dairy consumption, creating opportunities for Australia and other global dairy players, according to a new report by Rabobank’s RaboResearch division.
The report estimates the total milk required at full implementation could surpass two billion litres.
“This estimate is based on an anticipated 83 million recipients accounting for school absenteeism, lactose intolerance, and an average serving size between 125ml and 200ml,” RaboResearch senior dairy analyst Michael Harvey said.
The report said the school milk program had the potential to significantly increase Indonesian demand for liquid milk, both domestically produced and imported.
“The majority of milk consumed in Indonesia in 2024 was imported, with domestic production estimated at 900 million litres, and an additional 2.5 billion litres (liquid milk equivalent) imported,” Mr Harvey said.
Indonesia was Australia’s fourth-largest dairy export market in 2023-24, after China and Japan, taking more than 60,000 tonnes of Australian product.
Australia has also been a long-standing exporter of dairy cattle to Indonesia.
To meet the growth in demand that will result from the program, the Indonesian Government and dairy industry plan to significantly increase the national dairy herd, the report says.
As the rollout of the program gathers pace, investment across Indonesia’s dairy sector is expected to accelerate, Mr Harvey said, and would also have impacts on the global sector.
“For Indonesia to achieve its ambitious milk supply growth targets and accommodate the considerable number of dairy cattle needed, it will need to scale up both live cattle supply and the local dairy supply chain,” he said.
“This will include the need for feed genetics, farm infrastructure and farm management skills to support the expanding local industry.
“And overall, we expect global input players and dairy companies to benefit.”
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