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Milk retailers accused of pocketing over 100 pc profit

KARACHI: Milk suppliers due to drastic cut in the cost of cattle breeding/farm inputs, have cut the milk price to less than half in the wholesale market.

According to Sindh Milk Producers Association (SMPA), the wholesale prices fixed by them as well as the dairy farms of Karachi Cattle Colony, Landhi, was Rs 10 per litre but the retailers continue to sell the milk at Rs 22 per litre.

The Association Secretary Aala-e-Ahmed told APP that SMPA has urged the authorities to revise the retail price downward and make it realistic, ensuring that the reduction in the cost of cattle breeding/farms inputs is duly passed on to consumers and the exorbitant profits of over 100 percent by the retailers is checked.

He said that while price of the milk in one of the local wholesale markets, Lea Market remains Rs 10 per litre that in Karachi Cattle Colony, however, fluctuates.

He alleged that some times the suppliers also try to create artificial shortage to push the price upward. However, such attempts rarely succeed due to availability of viable substitutes like dry milk and milk packs.

He said during the last quarter of the previous year, the price in the wholesale market remained around Rs 10 per litre but this reduction was never passed on to the consumers by the retailers.

He called upon the administration to ensure that the retailers reduce the milk price as per the rates in the wholesale market. APP