Milk retailers announce to close sale points, demand price hike

KARACHI: All Karachi Milk Retailers Welfare Association has announced to close the sale points across the metropolis from Monday to an indefinite period for demanding a price hike, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The retailers have announced to stop the sale of loose milk across Karachi from Monday to an indefinite period. The milk retailer association staged a protest at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) today and demanded a hike in the milk price.

The association gave a 72-hour ultimatum to the local administration to make a decision regarding the milk price.

The protesters said that they could not sell milk at the current prices after purchasing the stock from dairy farmers at high rates.

The association’s office-bearer said that the dairy farmers were selling milk to the retailers at Rs214 to Rs218 per litre and the shop owners should get the least margin of Rs20 per litre.

The retailers said that nearly 15,000 shop owners will stop purchasing the milk from dairy farmers if the local administration fails to make any decision regarding the prices.

In June, the Karachi Dairy and Cattle Farmers Association announced to unilaterally increase milk prices by Rs20 per litre.

The milk is already being sold at Rs210 to Rs230 per litre in Karachi against the official rate of Rs180. Meanwhile, the Karachi dairy farmers had announced to further increase the price by Rs20 per litre.

Recently, Commissioner Karachi ordered to carry out operations and seal dairy shops selling milk at higher prices.