No plans to hike Amul milk prices in near future: Cooperative MD R S Sodhi

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets milk under the Amul brand, has no plans to increase prices of milk in the near future, its MD R S Sodhi said.

GCMMF mainly sells milk in Gujarat, Delhi-NCR, West Bengal and Mumbai markets. The cooperative sells more than 150 lakh litres of milk per day, out of which Delhi-NCR accounts for nearly 40 lakh litres.

Earlier this week, Mother Dairy hiked prices of full-cream milk by Re 1 per litre and token milk by Rs 2 per litre in the Delhi-NCR market, citing rise in input cost.

Asked whether GCMMF has any plans to increase milk prices following Mother Dairy's rate hike, Sodhi said: "There are no plans in near future."

He further said input costs have not gone up much since the last retail price increase by GCMMF in October.

In mid-October, GCMMF raised the prices of Amul Gold (full-cream) and buffalo milk by Rs 2 per litre each across all markets except for poll-bound Gujarat, where assembly elections will be held in early December.

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Amul Gold price was increased from Rs 61 to Rs 63 per litre. Buffalo milk price was raised from Rs 63 to Rs 65 per litre.

GCMMF has hiked milk prices thrice this year, while Mother Dairy has done it four times.

Mother Dairy is one of the leading milk suppliers in Delhi-NCR with volumes of more than 30 lakh litres per day.

Both Mother Dairy and Amul pass on about 75-80 per cent of prices paid by consumers to the milk producers.

The hike in milk prices has affected household budgets at a time when food inflation is already at a high level.

Mother Dairy attributed the hike in prices to increase in its procurement cost of raw milk from dairy farmers.

"This year, the entire dairy industry is witnessing a huge gap in the demand and supply of milk," its spokesperson said.

The availability of raw milk has been impacted due to the increased cost of feed and fodder, and erratic monsoon putting a stress on prices of raw milk, the company pointed out.

Moreover, Mother Dairy said the demand for processed milk has gone up.

"The ongoing mismatch in the demand-supply, even after the festive season, has further led to firming of raw milk prices. We are therefore constrained to partially pass on the impact with revision in consumer prices of certain variants," the spokesperson had said.

Milk output in India, the world's largest producer, is around 210 million tonnes annually.