Amul milk to cost Rs2 more per litre in Delhi, NCR

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets milk and milk products under the Amul brand, on Monday announced an increase of Rs2 per litre of itzs milk pouch sold in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), effective Tuesday.

With this, the price of Amul Gold full-cream milk will increase from Rs42 to Rs44 per litre while Amul Taaza toned milk and Amul Slim-n-Trim double-toned milk will also cost Rs2 more from Tuesday.

The latest price revision comes less than six months after its last hike. GCMMF said it would revise prices across the country in a fortnight.

''We shall have similar price revisions in other parts of India where Amul milk is being sold,'' the company stated in a release.

GCMMF attributed the price hike to the high cost of cattle feed, dry and green fodder, diesel and other inputs over the past  one year.

Fodder prices have increased by 30 per cent since 30 September 2012 while cattle feed now costs 15 per cent more, a company spokesman pointed out.

An extended monsoon this year while helped the planting of crops, has led to a scarcity of fodder, he pointed out.

"While current food inflation is around 18 per cent, Amul Milk prices have been increased marginally by only 10 per cent over last year. As a result, Amul is only partly passing on its hike to the consumers," GCMMF said in its statement.

AMUL sells near 27 lakh litres of in the Delhi and NCR markets each day and over 9 million litres of milk per day across the country, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, NCR and New Delhi.

GCMMF had already, from 1 July, hiked prices in Gujarat and the company plans to revise prices across other states by month-end.

A Mumbai-based private dairy, Parag Milk Foods, owner of the Gowardhan brand of cow milk, has announced a similar raise in prices while others are expected to follow suit.