Mother Dairy has decided to hike the prices of milk by Rs 2 per liter in Delhi-NCR market with effect from Tuesday, citing a rise in input costs, PTI reported.
This is the fifth round of hike in milk prices this year by Mother Dairy, one of the leading milk suppliers in Delhi-NCR with volumes of more than 30 lakh litres per day. Mother Dairy has increased the prices of full-cream milk by Rs 2 to Rs 66 per litre, while toned milk rate has been revised to Rs 53 per litre from Rs 51 per litre.
Double-toned milk rate has been increased to Rs 47 per litre from Rs 45 per litre. Mother Dairy has decided not to raise prices of cow milk and token (bulk vended) milk variants.
Mother Dairy attributed the hike in prices to an increase in the company’s procurement cost of raw milk from dairy farmers.
“It is an unprecedented year for the dairy industry. We have been witnessing a significant increase in demand of milk and milk products from both consumers and institutions, even after festivals. On the other hand, procurement of raw milk has also not picked up after Diwali as it was anticipated,” the company said.
The procurement prices of raw milk have gone up by about 24 per cent over the last year due to higher input costs and heatwave conditions, it pointed out. Mother Dairy passes on about 75-80% of prices paid by consumers to the milk producers.
The company has taken several rounds of price increases in the current calendar year. The last hike was on November 21, when it increased prices of full-cream milk by Re 1 per litre and token milk by Rs 2 per litre in Delhi-NCR market. Before that, Mother Dairy had in October increased the prices of full-cream milk and cow milk by Rs 2 per litre in Delhi-NCR and some other markets in North India.
