Private milk producers up price by Rs 2 per litre

CHENNAI: Private milk producers in the city like Heritage, Dodla, Jeresy and Thirumala have hiked the price of all varieties of milk by Rs 2 with effect from Thursday.

This price hike was because of an increase in the prices of procurement said president of the Tamil Nadu Milk producers welfare association, K A Sengottuvel. "We are giving more to the producers and because of this increase in our procurement prices it has become necessary for us to increase our selling price," he said.

Officials at Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers' Federation Limited said that this move was not justified and while Aavin had also increased procurement price to Rs 16.64 from Rs 15.54 the cost of one litre of milk continued to remain the same at Rs 20.50 for toned milk.

Sengottuvel said that the various agencies like Tamil Nadu Milk Producers Welfare Association, Tamil Nadu Milk Producers Association, Thamizhaga Vivasayeegal Sangam and Tamil Nadu Toddy Movement were staging a protest on February 7 to ask the government to increase procurement price by Rs 5 for cow's milk and Rs 8 for buffalo's milk. "The state has increased the procurement price by a mere Rs 1.10 for cow's milk and Rs 2.20 for buffalo's milk. We want higher rates," he said.

While the cost of toned milk has gone up from Rs 24 per litre to Rs 26 per litre, the price of standardised milk has gone up to Rs 30 per litre, the price of full cream milk has gone up to Rs 34 per litre and the price of double toned milk has gone up to Rs 20 per litre.