CHENNAI: ON Saturday, at least seven private milk companies increased their milk price by Rs 4 a litre. With this, price of milk sold by private companies has risen by Rs 8 to Rs 10 a litre this year alone.
These companies sell milk under the brand names of Dodla, Srinivasa, Thirumala, Heritage, Jersy, Gowardhan and Vyshnavi and cater to over 65 per cent of milk demand of tea shops and hotels in Chennai. Another major private milk company, Arokya, is yet to announce any decision on hiking prices.
Official sources in private milk companies attribute the decision to the increase in Aavin’s milk procurement prices announced last week. These companies sell 10 to 11 lakh litres of milk out of the 27 lakh litres of milk sold in Chennai each day.
Now, tea shop owners in the city are divided over whether or not to hike the prices of hot beverages.
While shops with higher earnings are likely to keep the prices of tea and coffee unchanged, lest a hike affect demand, shops with lower earnings say they will hike prices by Rs 2 soon.