Amul Has No Immediate Plans to Raise Milk Prices in Near Future: R S Sodhi

Amul has no plans to raise the price of the staple necessity shortly. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation's MD, R S Sodhi, stated that there are no immediate plans to raise milk prices under the Amul brand.

GCMMF primarily sells milk in the Gujarat, Delhi-NCR, West Bengal, and Mumbai markets. In Delhi-NCR, the cooperative sells nearly 40 lakh litres of the more than 150 lakh litres of milk it sells daily. In the Delhi-NCR market, Mother Dairy raised the price of full-cream milk by Re 1 per litre and token milk by Re 2 per litre earlier this week, citing an increase in input costs.

When asked if GCMMF planned to raise milk prices in response to Mother Dairy's rate increase, Sodhi replied, "No plans shortly." He also stated that input costs had not risen significantly since the GCMMF's last increase in retail prices in October. However, outside of Gujarat, where assembly elections will be held in early December, all markets saw price increases of 2 per litre in mid-October for both Amul Gold (full-cream) and buffalo milk.

The price of a litre of Amul Gold has been increased from Rs. 61 to Rs. Buffalo milk prices have risen from Rs. 63 to Rs. 65 per litre. GCMMF has raised milk prices three times this year, compared to four times for Mother Dairy.

Mother Dairy is one of the top milk suppliers in Delhi-NCR, producing more than 30 lakh litres per day. Mother Dairy and Amul give milk producers a 75-80% cut of customers' prices. Milk price increases occurred when food inflation was already very high, putting pressure on household budgets.

Mother Dairy attributed the price increase to an increase in the cost of purchasing raw milk from dairy farmers. "This year, the entire dairy industry is witnessing a huge gap in milk demand and supply," a spokesperson for the company said.

The company stated that the price of raw milk has been influenced by the unpredictability of the monsoon and the rising cost of feed and fodder, which has reduced raw milk supply. Mother Dairy also reported an increase in demand for processed milk.

"Even after the holiday season, the ongoing demand-supply mismatch has caused raw milk prices to rise. As a result, we are forced to pass on a portion of the impact of the revision in consumer prices of specific variants "According to the spokesperson. India, the world's largest producer, produces approximately 210 million tonnes of milk annually.