Consumers in Punjab will have to pay more for milk products as State-owned dairy federation Milkfed has decided to raise rates of curd and cheese by up to 40 per cent from June 1. However, retail milk prices have not been revised. “The prices of curd and cheese have been revised upward which will be effective from tomorrow,” a Milkfed official said.
As per new rates, the price of curd in 100 gm packing will be available at Rs10 instead of current price of Rs7. Price of curd in 200 gm and 400 gm packing will be raised to Rs15 and Rs25, respectively. Earlier, curd prices in 200 gm and 400 gm packing was Rs12 and Rs22 respectively.
The official said that price of cheese has also been raised. Cheese, which was available at Rs50 per 200 gm, will now be priced at Rs60, up by 20 per cent.The official said that prices of milk products have been increased on account of rising input cost.Milkfed Punjab, which sells milk and milk products under Verka brand, had raised milk procurement rates for farmers by Rs20 per kg fat to Rs540 per kg fat on May 1.
However, dairy farmers have been demanding hike in milk procurement prices to Rs600 per kg fat, citing 25-30 percent hike in the input cost.During hot weather conditions, milk production usually goes down due to heat stress in animals.
Milkfed, which sells milk and milk items in Punjab, Chandigarh and few places in Himachal Pradesh, procures milk in the range of 13 lakh litres per day from small and big dairy farmers.