Amul says no plan to raise cow milk prices; Parag Milk to take call next week

Dairy major Amul will not increase the price of cow milk, while Parag Milk Foods will take a call on raising rates next week.

On Thursday, leading milk supplier Mother Dairy increased price of cow milk by Rs 2 to Rs 44 a litre in Delhi-NCR, saying that it was paying more to farmers for procuring raw milk.

However, Mother Dairy did not increase rates of other variants of milk.

"There is no plan to increase cow milk prices," said R S Sodhi, MD of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets milk and milk products under the Amul brand.

Amul is selling cow milk at Rs 44 per litre only.

Parag Milk Foods Chairman Devendra Shah said the company will decide next week whether to go for hike or not.

"Our price is already higher by Rs 4 per litre at Rs 48 per litre," he said.

States like Maharashtra and Karnataka have received good rains, so the milk supply situation would improve, Shah added.

Raw cow milk prices have firmed up to the tune of Rs 2.50 to Rs 3 per litre in the last two-three months, a Mother Dairy spokesperson said on Thursday.

"Hence, we are compelled to increase the consumer prices of cow milk variant," the spokesperson had said.

Mother Dairy supplies around 30 lakh litre milk, of which 8 lakh litre constitutes cow milk, in the Delhi-NCR region. Parag Milk sells 80,000 litre of cow milk per day in the Delhi-NCR region under Gowardhan brand.

Mumbai-based Parag Milk acquired Sonipat plant in April last year and started commercial operations in August to expand its footprint in north and northeast India.