The Cabinet on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for the hike based on a recommendation made by the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma) last week.

Milma chairman K.S. Mani said the hike became unavoidable due to the increase in the cost of cattle-feed production. Besides, milk prices were last hiked three years ago in 2019.

Of the hiked amount, 83.75% would go to dairy farmers, 0.75% to the welfare fund and 5.75% each will go to dealers and the federation. Another 3.5% will go to the regional unions while 0.5% has been earmarked for activities related to plastic eradication.

The dairy farmers will get the same benefit from the ₹6 hike hike as they did during the last increase in 2019 when milk prices went up by ₹4 per litre, Mr. Mani said.

A two-member panel appointed by Milma, which submitted its report last week, had suggested a hike of ₹8.57 per litre. The decision to hike the price by ₹6 protects both the farmers and the consumers, Mr. Mani said.

At present, Milma double-toned milk (yellow colour sachet) costs ₹44 per litre, Milma toned milk (dark blue sachet, homogenised) ₹46, and Milma standardised milk (green sachet) ₹52 per litre.

The prices of milk-based products of Milma also are likely to go up soon. Milma has tasked officials to study the possibility of raising the prices.

Mr. Mani said cattle-feed production costs had increased by approximately 12% on November 1, necessitating a hike in milk prices. The two Milma cattle-feed factories had reported losses in the vicinity of ₹18 crore this fiscal.

Source : The Hindu 23rd Nov 2022