Milk prices to rise by 25% in Hyderabadd

Cattle farmers point to inflation as they decide to sell milk at Rs110; retailers follow their lead

HYDERABAD:

With unfettered inflation in food prices, the cost of milk in Hyderabad, too, is likely to be raised by 25 per cent from today (Saturday) unless authorities take action.

On Friday, cattle pen owners decided during a meeting that they would now sell milk at Rs110 per litre to retailers. The latter, then, will add Rs10 for their own stated costs, ultimately selling it for Rs120 per litre.

The current official price of milk is Rs96 per litre, though several retailers are charging Rs100 in the absence of implementation.

A similar effort to boost the price to Rs108 per litre was made in February, with retailers threatening a shutter-down protest if stopped from doing so. However, the district administration prevailed upon both the cattle farmers and milk retailers to keep the price unchanged.

The meeting on Friday also weighed the risk of an adverse response from the authorities of cattle farmers raised the rates without official approval. Some of those present, though, pointed out that milk was being sold between Rs115 to Rs120 per litre in Karachi and Larkana, arguably with the government's tacit nod.

Warning that they would resort to protests if measures were taken to reverse the move, they claimed the hike had become inevitable due to consistently rising costs.

"If the government tries to stop us, we will halt the supply to the local market and turn to multinational companies instead," stated Mumtaz Jatoi, a member of the cattle farmers' association.

According to him, the district's milk production was around 600,000 litres, already insufficient for a population of around 2.5 million. He contended that the hike would enable them to invest in the business and enhance production, pointing out that a cow producing 10 litres of milk consumed fodder worth Rs700 a day.

Meanwhile, the chairperson of the milk retailers' association, Abdul Rehman Nagori, said that while they had not yet been informed of the cattle farmers' decision, they would be compelled to follow them in increasing prices. "If we purchase milk from the farms at Rs110, we will sell it at Rs120 per litre after adding our costs and profit," he explained.

The sudden rise follows a similar hike in Karachi, where the commodity is being sold at Rs120 per litre. According to cattle farmers and retailers, milk is historically sold at a marginally lower rate in Hyderabad, as compared to Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2020.