LAHORE: The diary association has threatened to hike price of milk, if new taxes are imposed on diary sector in the upcoming budget.
Pakistan Dairy Association (PDA) Chairman Babur Sultan, in a statement after an emergency meeting, said that The dairy industry will have no choice but to pass on the price increase to consumers if new taxation measures are imposed in upcoming budget, said, , convened by PDA on Friday.
The meeting was called to discuss the impact of the proposal under consideration by the government that zero-rating be withdrawn on dairy products in the 2016-17 budget. The members concluded that there will be wide ranging, negative impacts on the dairy sector as well as the millions of consumers. The members said that they could not afford to absorb the increase in costs, and would have to increase the price of milk by Rs7 to Rs8 per litre.
Packaged milk is only 6% of the total milk consumed in Pakistan while milk and dairy products account for 22% of kitchen expenditure, which is more than wheat (12%). Babur Sultan, the PDA chairman said.