NT NETWORK
PONDA
Goa Dairy’s recent move to hike the prices of milk has resulted in a drastic decline in the sale of milk supplied by the dairy.
According to sources in Goa Dairy, since the last fortnight, Goa Dairy’s milk sale has dropped down by around 5,000 litres per day, and price hike is said to be the main reason behind the decline. Goa Dairy had hiked its milk prices by Rs 3-4 per litre on March 12.
Goa Dairy, the only milk dairy of the state, has a sale of around 82 to 85 litres of different varieties of milk per day. As per information received, it is learnt that the sale of milk was normal before March 12. On the day the milk prices were hiked, Goa Dairy suffered a drop of almost 10,000 litres in the sale of milk. After a week, however, the sales recovered by 5,000 litres. But even after 15 days, the milk sale has remained short of normal sales by more than 5,000 litres per day. With this, most of the profit earned by Goa Dairy through the hike in prices of milk has been nullified to some extent due to the drop in the sale of milk, said sources.
It is learnt from sources that the officials of Goa Dairy recently held an urgent meeting of various marketing heads in order to work out a recovery plan.
According to a milk seller from Ponda, the milk prices of Goa Dairy are the highest compared to other brands in the market. Difference in the price is almost Rs 2-3 on standard milk and almost Rs 1-2 on high fat milk. “Due to this difference in the milk prices, many costumers are opting for milk of other brands,” said the milk seller, on condition of anonymity.
When contacted, Goa Dairy’s managing director Dr N C Sawant said, “It is true that Goa Dairy’s sale has dropped since the past few days and it is normal for a dairy to suffer a drop in sales after price hike. This time, the Dairy has suffered a downfall in the sale by only 1 to 1.5 thousand litres per day and compared to earlier drop, it is very low. As days pass, sales of Goa Dairy will recover.” When asked about the price difference, Dr Sawant said that milk prices of Goa Dairy are almost the same as that of other brands and added that the other brands will also resort to a price hike in the coming days.
It may be recalled that Goa Dairy had hiked the milk prices by Rs 3-4 per litre from March 12 onwards citing an increase in the production rate.