No plans to increase prices of Amul milk in near future: RS Sodhi
New Delhi. The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), a cooperative body that markets milk under the Amul brand, has no plans to increase milk prices in the country in the near future. The Managing Director (MD) of the organization RS Sodhi said this. GCMMF mainly sells milk in the markets of Gujarat, Delhi-NCR, West Bengal and Mumbai. This cooperative organization sells more than 150 lakh liters of milk per day, out of which about 40 lakh liters of milk is sold in Delhi-NCR.
Earlier this week, Mother Dairy had increased the prices of full-cream milk by Re 1 per liter and that of token milk by Rs 2 per liter in the Delhi-NCR market, citing cost escalation. When asked whether the GCMMF has any plans to increase milk prices after Mother Dairy hiked milk prices, Sodhi said, “There is no plan in near future.” He further said that since the last retail price hike in October, the cost has not increased much.
In mid-October, the GCMMF increased the prices of Amul Gold (full-cream) and buffalo milk by Rs 2 per litre. This growth has happened in all other markets, except for election-bound Gujarat. Assembly elections will be held in Gujarat in early December. After this increase in the price, the price of Amul Gold has been increased from Rs 61 to Rs 63 per liter while the price of buffalo milk has been increased from Rs 63 to Rs 65 per litre. GCMMF has increased milk prices thrice this year, while Mother Dairy has done so four times.
Mother Dairy is one of the leading milk suppliers in Delhi-NCR with a sales volume of over 30 lakh liters per day. The hike in milk prices has put pressure on the domestic budget at a time when food inflation is already at a high level. Mother Dairy attributed the hike in prices to the increase in the cost of procuring raw milk from dairy farmers.
Its spokesperson said, this year the entire dairy industry is witnessing a huge gap between the demand and supply of milk. The company said availability of raw milk has been affected due to rising cost of cattle feed and raw milk prices are under pressure due to erratic monsoon. Milk production in India, the largest producer of milk in the world, is around 210 million tonnes annually.
