The Kerala government has increased the selling price of Milma milk by Rs 4 per litre. The revised price will be applicable to all milk variants of Milma, the state’s milk brand. The revised price will come into force from September 21 onwards, after the Onam festivities in the state.
The price of Milma Double Toned Milk (yellow sachet) will increase from Rs 39 to Rs 43, while Toned Milk’s light blue sachet (homogenised) will go up from Rs 40 to Rs 44 and dark blue sachet (non-homogenised) from Rs 42 to Rs 46.
Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd or Milma is Kerala’s main dairy co-operative. The Milma milk price was last increased in February 2017 by Rs 4 per litre.
The latest price hike was announced on Friday after a meeting chaired by Minister for Dairy Development K Raju, with representatives of Thiruvananthapuram, Malabar and Ernakulam Unions of Milma.
“83.75 per cent of the revised price would go to dairy farmers. By this, the farmers would get Rs 3.35 extra per litre," a press release by the Kerala government said.
The Milma union representatives initially wanted the price hiked by Rs 7. They also said 80% of the hiked price will be provided to the farmers. According to reports, the government, however, said it would not be sufficient and increased it to 83.75% for the Rs 4 hike.
“It was decided to increase the price considering the high procurement costs for the dairy farmers. Tamil Nadu, too, increased the price of Aavin milk by Rs 6 per litre in August, but the farmers get 66.6 % of the increased price. In Kerala, the farmers will get 83.75% of the increased price,” the press release said.
Although the Milma has the authority to increase the price of the milk, only the Kerala government can approve the final price.
The government also said that 0.25 per cent of the increased price will be spent on plastic eradication under the Green Kerala initiative.
After the recent heavy rainfall and subsequent floods and landslide, the production of milk went down by almost one lakh litres. According to Mathrubhumi, 3.60 lakh litre milk will be purchased from other states to meet the demand for milk during the ongoing Onam celebrations.
The current prices of the Milma milk variants are:
Milma Double Toned Milk (Yellow colour) - Rs 39
Milma Toned Milk (Light Blue colour) - Rs 40
Milma Toned Milk (Dark Blue colour) - Rs 42
Milma Pride Milk (Orange colour) - Rs 44
Milma Standardised Milk (Green colour) - Rs 44
These prices will increase by Rs 4.
Meanwhile, Milma is still in the process of launching a mobile app to get milk and dairy products delivered to the consumers’ doorsteps.