The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Hike in milk price on the cards

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Sunday, Jan 06, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Hike in milk price on the cards

Staff Reporter

Milma incurring loss of Rs.6.5 lakh daily; production down in State

Proposes a hike of Rs.3 a litre
Milk shortage forces Milma to restrict supply

Thiruvananthapuram: As the shortage of milk is going from bad to worse across the State, the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma) has made it clear to the government that it cannot continue to supply milk unless there is an immediate hike in the price of milk or the government offers to subsidise the product.

Milma has now proposed that the price of milk be increased by Rs.3 per litre.

Price on the rise

It pointed out that in the last 20 months, the price of milk had gone up across the country by Rs.6, taking the price to Rs.19-21 per litre.

Even in Kerala, many private brands are selling milk at Rs.18 per litre.

Even though Milma had proposed a price hike of Rs.2 in November last year, the government had cut it back by Rs.1. At present, milk is being sold in the State at Rs.17 per litre, out of which the farmer’s share is roughly Rs.13.19.

Incentive for farmers

Milma has proposed that the price be hiked by Rs.3 and to pass on at least an additional Rs.2 to the farmer as an incentive for increasing milk production.

The current shortage, which is said to be a carry-over from the shortage that was being experienced throughout last year, has forced Milma to restrict its milk supply in the State to just under 10 lakh litres a day.

Domestic demand

At present, Milma is procuring about 2.6 lakh litres of milk daily from Karnataka to meet the domestic demand.

Milk price went up in Karnataka by Rs.2 per litre in December last and since then Milma has been incurring a loss of 6.5-7 lakh rupees daily.

The milk production in the State last year was 7.5 lakh litres per day and despite government’s claims, production has been going down steadily since 2001-02.

Drastic measures

“Last year, when milk shortage was acute the government persuaded us to procure milk somehow, promising to compensate us later. Our losses last year was Rs.17 crore and the government did not pay us even a fraction back. Milma will have to be shut down unless they decide to take some drastic measures,” a senior official confided.

“A price hike is inevitable or let the government follow the Tamil Nadu model and subsidise milk,” he added.

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