KARACHI: Despite a reduction in transport costs brought on by a reduction in the price of diesel by Rs35 per litre over the previous 15 days, stakeholders shocked consumers by increasing the price of retail fresh milk by Rs10 per litre starting on Thursday. This increased the cost of breakfast each day as well as the cost of children’s milk.
The price of milk in Karachi has increased once more to Rs220 per litre.
Stakeholders hiked the price of loose milk by Rs20 per litre in February of this year.
Consumers have thus far found the milk price set by the commissioner in Karachi to be a total eye-wash. On December 16, 2022, the official retail price of milk increased from Rs170 to Rs180 per litre. Retailers started charging customers Rs190 per litre of milk after refusing to sell it at the set price.
The pricing has once again been increased to Rs220 per litre in the city, despite the fact that the December 16, 2022 announcement is still in effect. The commissioner Karachi appears powerless to protect consumer interests.
Retailers are still disobeying the Dec. 2022 price-fixing notification of Rs180 per litre.
According to Waheed Gaddi, the media coordinator for the Karachi Milk Retailers Association, 70% of milk stores in Karachi are currently selling milk for Rs220 per litre, and the remaining 20% will soon follow.
He declared that the costs of milk byproducts like yoghurt and lassi will continue to be fixed at their previous levels.
The price of 37.5 litres of milk was established by farmers at Rs7,070 (at farmers’ gate), which was Rs6,750 in February 2023.
According to him, retailers fought the dairy farmers’ plan to hike the price by Rs. 30 per litre, therefore the cost was eventually set at Rs. 10 per litre.
According to him, dairy farmers blamed the price increase on the increasing cost of animal feed.
He responded that stakeholders were uncertain whether diesel prices will rise or fall over the next two weeks when asked why the milk price had climbed despite a decline in the rate of Rs 35 per litre. However, it was decided to pass along the effects of reducing diesel and feed prices to customers in the event that their costs continued to drop or remained constant for an extended period of time.
On December 16, 2022, the commissioner of Karachi set the wholesale and dairy farmer rates of milk at Rs. 163 and Rs. 170 per litre, respectively. However, the government was responsible for ensuring that merchants received milk at the notified rates.
Consumers are the biggest victims in this situation where the government and stakeholders are at odds, not only in terms of the milk rate but also in terms of a spike in those commodities that are not available at the official rates.
He claimed that five million litres of milk, including powder, tetra, and flavoured milk, are consumed daily in Karachi. In contrast to the estimated population of 300 million, this number is predicated on the premise that 200 million people drink milk.
