Milk, too, will be dearer from February

NEW DELHI: Following in the footsteps of a tariff hike in power and an increase in diesel prices, milk will also become more expensive from February 1. Mother Dairy has announced a raise of Rs 2 per litre across all its milk varieties, citing an “ongoing rise in the prices of raw milk in the last few months coupled with the need to ensure availability of milk in the consumer market”.

Sources also said that there could be another similar rise in June-July if the international prices did not come down by then. “For the past four to five months, export of skim milk power has gone up drastically. There is ahuge demand for milk power in the international market that has been largely fuelled by China importing more since its own production has fallen slightly this year.

Foreign exchange has also supported an increase in exports. Going by the present trend, India would have exported around 1,50,000-1 ,70,000 tonnes of milk power and casein by the end of the current fiscal year. The government is also continuing to give a 5% subsidy on export of milk that was initiated last year to boost export. Now that the export condition is already so good, why is the government still continuing with this subsidy,” said a source.

What the increase in exports has done is push the procurement price. Industry sources said that price of fodder, transport etc continues to remain the same but because demand has gone up due to exports, the procurement price has gone up. “Usually, milk prices fall in winter but this year the situation has been different. Farmers are getting a better price for the product. To sustain availability of milk for the domestic consumer, milk companies have had to pay more for the supply. A fall in prices, if any, is not likely o happen before August ,” said the source.