No price hike in dairy products for now

Kathmandu: The dairy entrepreneurs have withdrawn their decision to hike the price of milk after a negotiation with the stakeholders. New price would be fixed after a thorough study.     
The entrepreneurs had increased the price of milk by Rs 16 per litre from last Saturday.    
A meeting of the stakeholders held at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development this afternoon came to a decision to withdraw the hike price and begin a fresh study to adjust the price. Officials from the Department of Livestock Service, National Dairy Development Board and dairy entrepreneurs were present at the meeting.    
The Essential Commodities Control (Authorization) Act, 2017 BS has enlisted milk as an essential commodity.    
However, some dairy entrepreneurs and industrialists had hiked the price unilaterally arguing that they had to pay high to the farmers.    
The existing move to hike the price of dairy products is against the legal provision. The National Dairy Development Policy has stated that the price of dairy products would be reviewed in every two years by considering the annual inflation and productions cost.    
However, the entrepreneurs had hiked the price in less than a year’s time.