Nandini milk to cost Re 1 less
The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) on Monday announced a price cut of Re 1 per litre of Nandini milk variants and curd, effective from February 13.
The Federation had on February 8 hiked the price of Nandini milk by Rs 4 to Rs 28 per litre of toned milk.
KMF chairperson G Somasekhara Reddy said that the decision had been taken in the interest of milk-producing farmers and to meet the increased cost of milk production and handling. Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar had also requested the Federation to consider a revision.
Reddy attributed last week’s hikes to the slump in the price of skimmed milk powder (SMP) and the refusal of some unions to reduce the procurement cost. “This has caused an accumulated loss of Rs 78 crore among various district milk unions. About 5,500 tonnes of butter and 17,700 tonnes of SMP, together worth Rs 500 crore, are lying with the unions,” he said.
He said the Federation had asked the government to provide subsidy on cattle feed. “The government has agreed to release Rs 57 crore till the end of March, and after that, we have requested the government to give a subsidy of Rs 4 per kg of cattle feed and there is an in-principle approval for the same,” he said and added that Women and Child Development department had identified 20 lakh anganwadi children and five lakh adolescent female children for supplying skimmed milk powder.
