Milma hikes prices of two milk varieties

Thiruvananthapuram: After increasing the price of Milma milk last year, Milma has gone for another price increase for its milk sold in green and yellow packets, effective from Wednesday.
While the price of Milma Rich milk sold in green packet price will go up from Rs 29 to Rs 30, the price of Milma Smart sold in yellow packets will go up from Rs 24 to Rs 25. At the same time, Milma milk sold in blue packets, which is the most popular among the Milma milk varieties sold across the state, will remain the same.
Animal husbandry and dairy development minister J Chinchurani said that there is no reason for Milma to hike the price now and the decision has not been communicated to the government, even though full powers to decide on the milk pricing has been given to Milma itself.
Milma chairman K S Mani said that both the variants for which the price has been increased are being sold only in Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram region and that too in a limited quantity, to the tune of maximum 30,000 litres per day.
“When we decided to increase the price by Rs 6 per litre for other products and milk variants from December 1 last year, the rates of these two variants were increased by Rs 4 only. Also, there are several complaints from the agents and the consumers regarding the changes that they have to tender during the purchase. It is considering all these that the price has been increased by Rs 2, and fixed at Rs 50 per litre and Rs 60 per litre for these two variants,” he said.
He added that the decision was taken in the meeting held on Monday evening, and could not be communicated to the government.
Last year, Milma had increased the price of milk and other milk products of Milma. The decision to increase the price then was taken after a Milma-appointed panel comprising experts from the state’s veterinary and agriculture universities conducted a study on expenses incurred by the dairy farmers.