Packaged milk producers increase prices.

Byline: Aamir Shafaat Khan

KARACHI -- Tetra milk producers on Wednesday increased prices of one, 1.5 liter and 250ml packs without citing any reason for the increase.

Karachi Retail Grocers Group General Secretary Farid Qureishi said the price of one and 1.5 litre milk packets have been raised to Rs150 and Rs200 from Rs140 and Rs180 respectively whereas the 250ml pack will now be sold at Rs38-40 as against Rs35.

Qureishi said the price list issued by the companies did not mention any reason for the increase.

A Nestle Pakistan Limited official, while speaking to Dawn on the condition of anonymity attributed the price hike to rising input costs, high transportation charges on account of diesel rates and packaging rates.

He said the animal feed costs had also gone up because of rising soybean prices. The share of animal feed in milk production cost is 65 per cent.

Overall net sales of the Nestle Pakistan dropped to Rs116 billion in 2019 from Rs120bn in 2018 while it was Rs125bn in 2017, he added.

Highlighting the reasons of sales drop, Nestle in a statement said that challenges in the economic and business environment had impacted purchasing power of people, while during the year, imposition of sales on milk powders and federal excise duty on beverages also necessitated adjustment in prices.

Due to deteriorating purchasing power of consumers and competitive pressures, the company did not fully pass on the above increases which negatively impacted the margins and net profit for the...