KMF hikes Nandini ghee price by Rs 90, butter by Rs 26 per kilo citing rising production costs

BENGALURU: Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) has announced a steep hike in the price of Nandini ghee by Rs 90 per kilo, and butter rates by Rs 26 per kilo. Nandini ghee, which was sold at Rs 610 per kilo, will now cost Rs 700, and butter sold at Rs 544 would now cost Rs 570. The rates came into effect on Wednesday. Addressing the media on Wednesday, KMF Managing Director B Shivaswamy said the revision of rates was inevitable and attributed the hike to increasing production and operational costs. He justified the hike by stating that other popular brands of ghee cost much more. Nandini milk prices were hiked by Rs 4 in April. The state government had decided that the entire hiked amount was to be paid directly to farmers and not to milk co-operatives or federations, Shivaswamy said. Whenever milk rates are hiked, only 50-75 per cent would go to the farmers and the rest would be taken by cooperatives and federations. Since the entire Rs 4 was paid to farmers, and cooperatives and federations did not benefit, KMF decided to revise the price of ghee. Meanwhile, speculation is rife that Nandini milk rates would also go up. Bangalore Milk Union Limited President DK Suresh said milk rate is low in Karnataka, but while there is no proposal to hike the rate, they have urged KMF to consider it. Karnataka produces 95 lakh to one crore litres per day. However, only 50 lakh litres are sold, and for the remaining milk, the unions are paying the farmers, Suresh said. There is a huge demand for Nandini butter and ghee. Despite having the best ghee and butter, our rates remain lowest in the market when compared to others. Based on demand from the unions, ghee and butter rates have been revised. The unions have also demanded that the price of milk be revised, he added. The KMF MD, however, maintained that there was no proposal before them to hike milk rates.