Milk food goes loose after price hike: People buy 50g, 100g, 250g packs

By Madhushala Senaratne

The shortage of milk powder culminating in a staggering price hike on Friday has forced thousands of people to buy milk food not by the packet but loose in small quantities. Milk powder is available in smaller quantities ranging from 50g to 250g packed in polythene or sili-sili bags at boutiques in Colombo and outstations. Shopkeepers said they made wholesale purchases of bulk quantities and sold them to the people in small quantities.

A child with a 50g pack of milk powder at a shop at Maligawatte, Colombo yesterday.

A 250g pack is sold at Rs. 145 and a 100g pack at Rs. 56. The shopkeepers said most people, and especially the poor, had no option but to buy milk powder in small quantities.

Consumer Affairs Minister, Bandula Gunawardene on Friday informed milk powder companies they could increase the price of a 400g pack to a maximum of Rs. 275 – an 80-rupee increase –while the price of a 1 kg pack could be raised to Rs. 687. The price of a 400g welfare pack has also been increased from Rs.152 to Rs. 195. The response from milk food companies was mixed and caused more confusion.

Milgro Country Manager Chrishantha Fernando said his company would not make use of the maximum price but would sell its 400g pack at Rs. 250. He said he believed the new price structure would promote healthy competition among milk powder companies vying to sell their products at the lowest possible price.

Maliban Milk General Manger D.L. Weerasuriya, however, cautioned that if a 400g pack was to be sold at less than Rs. 250, there might be questions about quality. Nestle Lanka Managing Director Stuart Young said his company would move to the maximum price of Rs. 275 but the current stocks might be available at the lower prices for the next two weeks.