Milk price up Rs 10 per liter to meet production cost
KATHMANDU, Dec 31 :
If you are a regular milk consumer and visit the milk booth every morning, you are in for a momentary surprise this Wednesday morning. Dairy Development Corporation (DDC), the state-owned milk supplier, has increased the price of pasteurized milk by as much as Rs 10 per liter effective from Wednesday.
Citing the increased production cost of farmers and the constant pressure exerted by them, DDC has raised the price of full cream (skimmed) milk by Rs 10 per liter. Likewise, the price of standard milk (non-skimmed) and cow milk has been increased by Rs 8 per liter to Rs 64 and Rs 72 per liter respectively.
This means consumers will now have to pay Rs 32 for a half liter of standard milk in the market. Similarly, non-skimmed milk and cow milk will now cost Rs 80 and Rs 72 per liter respectively.
“We have increased the milk price effective from Wednesday,” Ganga Timsina, general manager of DDC, told Republica, adding “The increment has been made to address the increased milk production costs of farmers.”
A month ago, farmers affiliated to the Central Milk Cooperatives Association (CMCA) had submitted a memorandum to DDC, the Nepal Dairy Development Board and the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD), urging a hike in the procurement price of milk as soon as possible. A committee with representatives from all the above-mentioned bodies was then formed to further study the issue. The committee, a couple of weeks earlier, termed a new adjustment in the milk price targeting farmers as ´logical´.
“The board decided to jack up the price after a go-ahead from MoAD,” said Timsina. According to him, 69 percent of the raised milk price will go directly into the pockets of farmers.
DDC enjoys a 40 percent share in the domestic dairy market. According to DDC officials, it sends around 140,000 liters of pasteurized milk to Kathmandu Valley alone. DDC has processing plants in Balaju (Kathmandu), Biratnagar, Hetauda, Butwal, Kohalpur and Dhalkebar.
Farmers affiliated to CMCA have welcomed the price-hike decision of the government. “The new increment is encouraging to farmers,” Narayan Devkota, president of CMCA, said.
Meanwhile, consumer activists have termed the price hike as going against consumer rights. “The government has raised the price of milk on the pretext of meeting increased production costs only to serve the interests of the private sector,” Jyoti Baniya, general secretary of the Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights (FPCR), told Republica, adding “Once DDC increases the price, it will pave the for the private sector to do likewise.”
Private dairies to up price from Thursday
Private dairies will raise the milk price effective from Thursday. “The trend is for us to adopt the new price for milk a day after DDC does so,” said Pradeep Maharjan, proprietor of Kathmandu Dairy. Private dairies will increase the price by Rs 8 per liter in line with the DDC, as they sell only standard milk.
Source: Myrepublica
