The rather strange case of milk prices
Published in DAWN on October 28, 2022
THE price of
milk in the retail market has gone up once again. The latest hike has been as
abrupt as has always been the case over the last couple of years. It is
currently available in the open market at anywhere between Rs170 and Rs200 per
litre, depending on the locality.
I understand that the prices
of tomatoes, onions and potatoes register a sharp increase every now and then
because of the gap between demand and supply. There are times when natural
elements hurt the crop, and every now and then we have to import them from
neighbouring countries. But milk? What is the issue with milk prices in a
country which happens to be one of the leading producers of the commodity in
the world?
In the case of tomatoes coming
from Iran, ‘patriotic’ Pakistani farmers occasionally destroy consignments
coming to Karachi, knowing that a surplus would reduce their incomes
substantially. One can see the same mindset among leaders of the oil-producing
countries who time and again agree to reduce production by millions of barrels
per day to manipulate prices.
All this I am able to
understand. I really do. What I fail to understand is the mindset and
manipulation in the milk market. It is available in abundance — or so we have
been told for years — and there is no way of reducing milk production.
Also, milk is not a speculative market, like stocks, currency , gold, etc., where prices fluctuate
on the basis of political and economic currents. Surely, the hike in milk
prices by the producers could not be due to petrol and diesel prices remaining
unchanged, or due to the outcome of recent by-elections, or the reported
increase in the salary of Punjab legislators, or because President Joe Biden
called Pakistan one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
So, then, what exactly is
the logic behind the surge in the prices of milk? Pray, tell me.
Shakir Lakhani
Karachi
https://www.dawn.com/news/1717310/the-rather-strange-case-of-milk-prices
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