Dairy products major Amul feels the prices of milk will stay ‘firm’ going forward due to increased pressure from energy, logistics and packaging costs, a top official said on Tuesday.
”Prices will be firm, I can’t say by how much. They can’t go down from here, can only go up,” Amul MD RS Sodhi told PTI when asked about his opinion on milk prices.
Amul had increased its prices by 8% in the last 2 years, including a Rs 2 hike in milk prices per litre last month, Sodhi said. He further added, “Headline inflation is big worry policymakers are grappling with and the same is being blamed as one of the major reasons which have restricted growth-enhancing measures like rate cuts. The six-member rate-setting panel of the RBI has started a bi-monthly review meet from Wednesday. Stressing that inflation in his industry is not a cause for worry per se because the farmer is getting benefitted through higher prices for the produce”
He said energy prices will impact cold storage expenses that have gone up by over a third, and logistics & packaging costs are also following similar patterns. Due to all these factors, the price of milk was increased to Rs 1.20 per litre. He also added that farmers’ income per litre has also gone up to Rs 4 per litre during the pandemic.
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