Liquid milk prices have increased again, notably by Tk 10 a litre, as leading companies have raised the maximum retail price (MRP) of their products by 12.5 per cent in the last two days, battering the consumers who have already been hit hard by soaring commodity prices.
The price of one-litre liquid milk pack of Aarong - a product of Brac Enterprise, Pran Milk, and Akij's Farm Fresh increased to Tk 90 a litre from Wednesday morning - the price was Tk 80 a litre earlier, according to city groceries.
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.
"Earlier, in May, just three months ago, the price of liquid milk witnessed a Tk 10 a litre hike and the first initiative of the hike was taken by Brac Enterprise," Enamul Hoque, a grocer in the Tejgaon area, told the FE.
After Brac Enterprise, all other companies then raised prices of the superfood one after another, he said.
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 on Friday.
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.
BRAC Enterprises Senior Director Mohammad Anisur Rahman told the FE that their production costs had increased by a minimum of Tk 6.0 a litre amid a hike in transport costs followed by costlier diesel, rising packaging costs for US dollar appreciation as well as for five to six hours of load shedding in factory areas.
He said the enterprise also raised the asking rate of milk by Tk 3.80 a litre at the farmers' level amid a hike in animal feed and other operating costs of the dairymen.
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), told the FE that the cooperative union had not taken any decision of price hike until Friday.
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.
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