in the past five years, the state-owned company hiked price of milk by Rs 32 per liter
KATHMANDU, March 17: The government-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has hiked the price of milk by Rs 16 per liter, at a time when the general people have already been hit hard by the soaring price of most of the essentials.
With the revised price, the price of the DDC’s standard milk now costs Rs 97 per liter. Similarly, the price of cow milk has been hiked by Rs 14 per liter to Rs 116 per liter and that of tea milk has been raised by Rs 10 per liter to Rs 90 per liter.
Dairy farmers to get Rs 4.14 per liter from DDC’s hiked price
Likewise, the high fat milk has been costlier by Rs 16 per liter. At the new price, this type of milk available in green packet costs Rs 130 per liter.
According to the DDC, the new price has come into effect from Thursday. DDC Deputy General Manager and information officer, Rajendra Prasad Adhikari, said the revised prices have been implemented across the country.
On March 3, the Council of Ministers decided to increase the minimum purchase price of raw milk containing four units of fat and eight units of solid-not-fat from farmers to Rs 65 per liter, up from Rs 56.40 per liter. The DDC has said the suppliers of raw milk have already been paid the adjusted price for their products and consumers are required to pay the increased price.
Most of the time, the state-owned milk supplier attributes the hike in milk price to benefit the farmers from their soaring costs. But in reality, the burden passes on to consumers who have been bearing the brunt of nearly double-digit inflation for the last one and a half years, while it benefits largely the middlemen.
“The government increased the price of milk to benefit the middlemen on the pretext of providing relief to the farmers as the farmers have not been able to get fair price for their product,” said Madhav Timalsina, president of the Consumer Rights Investigation Forum.
Last time, the DDC increased the price of milk by Rs 9 per liter in February 2022. In the past five years, the state-owned milk producer has hiked the price of the daily essential by Rs 32 per liter.
