Asking people to consume fresh milk is more expensive than buying milk powder to make a litre of milk, local milk powder importer associations said.
They claimed that the lowest price of milk powder in the market costs Rs.210 to make one litre of milk.
The association pointed out as to how much it costs to extract one litre of fresh milk from a milk powder pouch.
They said one kilo milk powder pack found in the market is equivalent of 7.7 litres of fresh milk. Even after icreasing the prices of milk powder, it will cost approximately Rs.165 to make one litre of liquid milk. "That quantity cannot be made from one litre of liquid milk," they said.
If people are encouraged to consume fresh milk, the price of one litre milk should be brought down, they said.
"Making such statements by local milk producers will mislead the people," the association said.
The importers claimed that, in line with the current world and local market situation, import taxes, global market prices and shipping costs have increased due to the depreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) against US dollar.
Shipments are delayed a maximum of two months due to the global pandemic situation.
Meanwhile, the local dairy companies said the government should take steps to increase the price of local milk powder parallel to the increased imported milk powder.
They also pointed out that it is cheaper for consumers to consume fresh milk instead of milk powder even when making a cup of tea with milk.
Anyhow, the final decision on this will be taken after the meeting with the Cost of Living Committee tomorrow. (Daily Mirror)