The wholesale and home delivery prices for drinking milk will increase on February 1 by one cent a litre for homogenized milk, two cents a litre for partly skimmed 2% and 1% milk and three cents a litre for skim milk. The announcement was made today by Wally Wood, Chair of the Prince Edward Island Marketing Council.
"This is the first price increase in over two years and only the second increase in six years," said Mr. Wood. "I commend the dairy industry for holding consumer prices stable over this period of time." Over the past ten years, the Consumer Price Index for dairy products has been consistently lower than the CPI for all food.
The full schedule of prices will be published in this week's Royal Gazette. Retail prices for milk may vary from store to store as the Council does not establish the price at the retail level. The price increase is due to higher production and processing costs.
Mr. Wood said the Marketing Council has now harmonized the prices of the four drinking milk products. This is due to the increasing value of protein and non-fat solids. In the past, homogenized milk had always been priced higher as payment to producers had been based solely on butterfat. It is now based largely on the protein content.