KARACHI, July 31: A 15-member committee tasked to recommend per litre prices of milk at the production, wholesale and retail stages is likely to take one more week to finalise their report.Acting on the directives of the Sindh High Court, the city government on July 17 constituted the committee to carry out a fresh exercise to fix milk prices in accordance with the provisions of the Sindh Essential Commodities Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding Act, 2006.

Sources said that the committee, comprising government officials, representatives of dairy farmers and members of civil society, met four times and in their last meeting on Monday, the experts of the city government handed over their findings on per litre production cost of milk to the representatives of dairy farmers, wholesalers and retailers, who would assess it in the next three days and submit their views on the report on Aug 3.

The city government’s earlier surveys suggested per litre milk price at the dairy farm level as Rs28. But milk-sellers insisted that the production cost of milk was Rs33 per litre. The current wholesale and retail price of milk is Rs30 and Rs32, respectively. According to the sources, if the milk-sellers agree to the city government’s findings, Friday’s meeting would be the final one.