KARACHI: People were given a new price shock amid unprecedented inflationary pressures on Monday when milk sellers unilaterally jacked up the price of fresh milk by Rs20 per litre, taking the price to Rs200 per litre in the city.

The price of the fresh milk has seen a surge of Rs20 per litre second time in a row.

Earlier, on Sept 8, the Karachi Dairy and Cattle Farmers Association had increased the price by the same value.

Waheed Gaddi, the media coordinator of the Karachi Milk Retailers Association (KMRA), told Dawn that the retailers were compelled to increase the milk price due to an increase in rates at dairy farms and wholesale prices as well as increase in the fares of vehicles used for transportation of milk.

The Karachi commissioner had fixed the retail rate of fresh milk at Rs120 per litre in December 2021, but the city administration failed to enforce the officially notified price of the commodity since then.

Until last week, majority of shopkeepers are selling milk at Rs180 per litre. However, from Monday majority of them have started charging Rs200 for one litre milk in different parts of the city.

Dairy and Cattle Farmers Association president Shakir Umar Gujjar said prices of electricity, medicines, gas, livestock, fodder and other essential items were increasing day by day and all these factors led to increase in the price of fresh milk.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2022