JOIN USSteep hike in milk prices
Addressing a press conference, KMF chairperson Somashekhar Reddy said the State government agreed to hike milk prices by Rs 3 per litre on all varieties ranging from Rs 16 per litre of toned milk to full cream milk that costs Rs 22. Each of these varieties will now cost Rs 3 to Rs 4 more per litre.
Toned milk that costs Rs 16 a litre will be sold at Rs 19 per litre in southern Karnataka districts namely Bangalore, Kolar, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Hassan and Shimoga. In North Karnataka districts — Raichur, Bellary, Dharwad, Bijapur, Dakshina Kannada and Belgaum — the same variety will be sold at Rs 20 per litre instead of Rs 17.
Homogenised milk that costs Rs 18 per litre will be available for Rs 22 per litre and full cream milk of Rs 22 per litre will cost Rs 26. Reddy added that the homogenised milk variants, except homogenised cow milk, will be charged Re 1 extra. Along with milk, there was a corresponding hike in the price of curd which will now cost Rs 24 instead of Rs 20 per litre.
Though the revised prices would come into effect from Thursday, milk sachets will carry old prices tags till stocks are exhausted.
Defending the KMF move, Reddy said Karnataka was the only state which was selling milk at the ‘cheapest’ price and even after effecting a hike of Rs 3 per litre, milk prices in the state would remain the lowest when compared across the country.
He said Andhra Pradesh was selling toned milk at Rs 24 a litre, Kerala has double toned milk at Rs 20 per litre, Maharashtra sells toned milk at Rs 23 per litre and Gujarat sells at Rs 24 a litre.
He added that there was growing demand for more incentives from the farmers because people were distracting from the business and the young lot was shying away from this business. “There was demand for a hike of around Rs 4 per litre from the farmers. Finally we agreed to hike it by Rs 3 to Rs 4,” said Reddy.