Liquid milk prices have increased again, by Tk 10 a litre, as leading companies have raised the maximum retail price (MRP) of their products by 12.5 per cent.
The price of one-litre liquid milk pack of Aarong, a concern of Brac Enterprise, Pran Milk, and Akij’s Farm Fresh increased to Tk 90 a litre from late last week. The price was Tk 80 a litre earlier, according to market sources.
Half-litre packs of those companies have also increased to Tk 45 from Tk 40. However, state-run Milk Vita was yet to review its price. After Brac Enterprise, all other companies then raised prices of the superfood one after another
Meanwhile, powdered milk price also witnessed a Tk 20-30 a kg hike in the last few days as Dano milk, a product of Arla Food, was sold at Tk 800-810 a kg and Diploma, a product of New Zealand Dairy, at Tk 790-800 a kg.
According to the Department of Agricultural Marketing and the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the prices of liquid milk witnessed a hike by 28-30 per cent in a year, while the powdered milk by 20-23 per cent.
Aarong Dairy is now in stiff competition with its crucial competitor Milk Vita, supplying 0.14 million litres of dairy products a day.
Md Rafiqul Islam, managing director of Milk Vita (Bangladesh Milk Producers Cooperative Union Limited), said the cooperative union had not yet taken any decision of price hike.
He said the company was now supplying 0.15-0.17 million litres of dairy products a day of which liquid milk comprises 0.10 to 0.12 million litres.
The union has raised its asking rate for farmers by Tk 5.0 a litre in recent months amid a nearly 40-50 per cent hike in cattle feed prices, added Mr Islam.
The country’s domestic production of milk is 9.9 million tonnes against a demand for 15 million tonnes, according to the Department of Livestock Services. The country also imports 0.12-0.14 million tonnes of powdered milk to meet a shortfall.
