New Delhi: A litre of pouch milk cost more across India from Thursday, 12 November, after Amul and Mother Dairy raised prices by ₹2 to ₹4 per litre, citing higher procurement and input costs.
GCMMF, which markets the Amul brand, raised fresh pouch milk prices by 4-5 per cent across major variants and pack sizes. "The price of our largest-selling Amul Taaza toned milk with 3 per cent milk fat has been increased by only ₹2 per litre (3.3 per cent increase) and Amul Gold Milk with 6 per cent milk fat by ₹4 per litre (5.5 per cent rise)," the federation said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mother Dairy, the largest milk supplier in Delhi-NCR, revised its liquid milk variants by ₹2-4 per litre. Toned milk in bulk vending machines will cost ₹60 a litre, up from ₹58. Pouched full cream milk moves to ₹76 from ₹72, pouched toned milk to ₹62 from ₹60, double-toned milk to ₹56 from ₹54, and cow milk to ₹65 from ₹62.
Both companies last raised prices in May, about six months ago.
The stated reason is the cost of producing milk. Mother Dairy said uneven monsoon conditions have hit fodder availability: green and dry fodder prices are up by as much as 20 per cent, cattle feed by around 10 per cent, and packaging, transport and other operational costs by up to 25 per cent.
GCMMF said green and dry fodder, oil cake, maize, molasses, packaging film and fuel have all become dearer. "In the current challenging environmental circumstances due to low and uneven rainfall in Gujarat as well as many parts of India, we are constrained to increase the consumer price of milk to pay better prices to our producers," it said.
The cooperative says its member unions raised procurement prices paid to farmers by 4-5 per cent over the past year, and that around 80 per cent of what consumers pay returns to 36 lakh milk producers.
For a household buying two litres of toned milk a day, the monthly bill goes up by about ₹120. For a dairy farmer in Gujarat, the claim is that part of it comes back as a better rate at the village collection centre.