JOIN USThe Karnataka Milk Federation has increased the price of milk and curd across the board by Rs two per litre, blaming the recent increases in petrol and diesel prices. The revised milk and curd prices will come into effect from Wednesday.
Toned milk, which cost Rs 27 per litre in Southern Karnataka, will now cost Rs 29 per litre. In North Karnataka, meantime, it will cost Rs 30. Double toned milk, which could be purchased for Rs 26 per litre will now cost Rs 28 per litre. Homogenised toned milk will cost Rs 30 in South Karnataka and Rs 31 in North Karnataka. Homogenised cow milk will be available at Rs 33 in South Karnataka and Rs 34 in North Karnataka. The 500 gram curd packet which was sold at Rs 17 will now cost Rs 18.
In a press release, the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) said the revision of milk and curd prices was necessary to protect the interest of farmers. After the hike in petrol and diesel prices, many milk cooperative societies would have decreased the procurement price, they said and added that transportation vehicles cover a distance of 2.55 lakh kilometre daily and that the increase in diesel prices had resulted in an additional burden of Rs 41.34 lakh per day on the transportation of milk.
The KMF pointed out that the cost of plastic film, furnace oil and other components necessary for milk production have also risen. “The cost of fodder and cattle food has also sky-rocketed,” the Federation pointed out and said that there has been a reduction in the subsidy covering cattle food.
The subsidy offered to the milk producers has resulted in an increase in milk production by 25 lakh litres. As a result, the Federation uses processing units outside the State to process excess production of milk. The Federation is also setting up three new packaging units with a capacity of 10 lakh litres with an investment of Rs 200 crore. It has also set up a flexi-pack unit at four locations with an investment of Rs 160 crore, and with a capacity of Rs 8 lakh litres to implement the Ksheera Bhagya scheme.
Justifying the increase, KMF Managing Director A S Premnath said the milk price hike was on the anvil for the last one-and-half months but the government was putting the revision on hold. Recently, when petrol prices were revised, the KMF was left with no option but to hike milk and curd prices.
Premnath said, “We had proposed a hike Rs three per litre, but at the government’s insistence, we have effected an increase of Rs two per litre.”
Variants South Karnataka North Karnataka
Existing Revised Existing Revised
* Toned Milk 27.00 29.00 28.00 30.00
* Double Toned Milk 26.00 28.00 --- ---
* Homogenised Toned Milk 28.00 30.00 29.00 31.00
* Homogenised Cow Milk 31.00 33.00 32.00 34.00
* Shubham (Standardised Milk) 33.00 35.00 34.00 36.00
* Shubham (Standardised 34.00 36.00 34.00 36.00
Homogenised Milk)
* Samruddhi (FCM) 36.00 38.00 36.00 38.00
* Curd (500 gms) 17.00 18.00 17.00 18.00
Price in Rs. Per litre