Prices of sweets at Pahala hub to go up from today

BHUBANESWAR: The price of sweets like rasagolla, chhenagaja and chhenapoda from Pahala sweets hub along NH-16 between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack is likely to leave a bad taste in the mouth from Tuesday.
Confectioners at Pahala said following the increase in milk and cheese prices and also the prices of other ingredients like sugar, cardamom and rawa have gone up, they are forced to increase the prices of sweets. After keeping the shops closed for the past three days, the sweet makers from Pahala will reopen shops with revised prices from Tuesday.
“If the price of milk increases by Re 1 per litre, then it will lead to a five-fold rise in the price of 1kg cheese. Following the rise in milk prices, the price of cheese has increased by Rs 20 per kg. We are forced to increase the price of sweet dishes and are requesting our customers to support us,” said Papu Lenka, president of the Pahala Sweet Makers Association. Apart from the state-run OMFED, most of the local dairy farmers have also increased the prices of milk by Rs 4 per litre under every category.
Sources said there are around 100 sweet-makers at Pahala market who prepare around 30 to 40 quintals of different types of sweet dishes. For preparing the sweet dishes the market needs around four tonnes of cheese supply from nearby villages.
“The sweet-makers are in a tight situation as prices of all raw materials, including refined oil, ghee, sugar, suji have increased. And now the milk rates have increased again leading to a rise in cheese rate — the main ingredient for making sweets. The price of LPG cylinder has touched Rs 1,100. All this has an impact on the prices and reduced our profit in the business significantly. Many of us have shifted business as profits have shrunk drastically. We are therefore requesting the customers to support us,” said Sipun Behera, a confectioner at Pahala. “We were preparing rasagolla in three sizes which will be sold for Rs 6, Rs 12 and Rs 25. Besides, the prices of chhenagaja and chhenapoda has been revised to Rs 220 to Rs 280 per kg,” said Sukanta Kumar Pradhan, a sweet-maker of Pahala.
They said their business was badly hit during the pandemic while the continuing heatwave condition is also affecting sales in the shops in the past few months.