The dairy milk prices will go up by Rs40- to 45, said Monday Dairy and Cattle Farmers Association (DCFA) president Shakir Umar Gujjar while speaking on a private TV channel lamenting that no coordinated efforts were made in the past 70 years to help dairy industry.
He said the real price the principal dairy product should be sold at is Rs155 per liter, noting in the first phase Sindh markets will see the hike which will later be implemented in Punjab next.
The DCFA president said if the government wanted the prices could be much lower but the fodder and essentials for our cattle are mostly exported leaving the market very inflated for local consumers.
Some 45 per cent of fodder for cattle and related items are exported, Gujjar said. The fodder that’s grown for the local cattle is exported and the problem is heightened as it doesn’t grow in Karachi and is brought here from rural Sindh and Punjab.
A premonition of imminent price hikes in dairy products will mean increased inflation and a cascading effect on the entire value chain including bakery and sweet shops.
This has not discouraged dairy farmers who say the real accounted for the price of per liter milk should be at least Rs155.
The current market price of the most essential dairy item is around Rs130 a litre and that too is in violation of the price list issued by the Commissioner Karachi office.
