Dairy business reach agreement to not hike milk price: MoALD Nepal

The dairy businesspersons, who recently hiked the price of milk citing rise in production cost of milk, have withdrawn their decision to increase the price.

In a meeting held recently at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), all the stakeholders concerned reached the decision for the same.

Executive Director of the National Dairy Development Board Rajendra Prasad Yadav shared that discussion held among the secretary at the MoALD, Board and the concerned bodies concluded to roll back the decision to hike the price of milk. The meeting decided to conduct a scientific study considering the production cost of milk, inflation in market price and purchasing power of the consumers for the adjustment of price, informed Yadav.

Though the Board said that it appraised the MoALD, Dairy Development Corporation, Nepal Dairy Association, among others, about the decision on Sunday, Dairy Industry Association Chairperson Raj Kumar Dahal shared that there was no such agreement or decision taken in the meeting held on Sunday.

“We agree to disagree on the conclusion of the meeting. We will take back the decision to increase the price of milk if the Board appraises us about the criteria to hike price,” Dahal asserted.

The Essential Commodities Control (Authorization) Act-2017 BS has listed milk as the essential food. Some milk businesspersons hiked milk price by Rs 14 per liter since last Saturday. They had cited the rise in production cost and higher cost while buying from the farmers.

The Nepal Dairy Association and some umbrella organizations of farmers and consumer rights had protested the act of some limited dairy entrepreneurs. The Board is entrusted with the responsibility to formulate policies to fix the price of milk and to recommend the revised price to the government in case of need.