INDORE: Milk will get costlier from February as Indore Dudgh Vikreta Sangh is hiking prices, a move seen weighing on the pockets of the common man already grappling with inflationary pressures.Indore Dudgh Vikreta Sangh, a private milk suppliers' body, that delivers around 12 lakh litres milk at doorsteps of customers every day, has announced to hike milk prices by Rs 3 per litres from February 1.Bharat Mathurawala, president, Indore Dudgh Vikreta Sangh said “We have decided to hike milk prices by Rs 3 per litres from February. Milk collection in the region is still below expectation and we are getting hand to mouth collection.”According to the private milk suppliers' body, from February the effective rate of milk will be Rs 48 per litres for ‘bandi’ and Rs 50 per litres for loose milk purchasers.The last hike was in April when milk prices were increased by Rs 2 per litres citing shortage of milk and increased cost of cattle rearing.Mathurawala said, “With increased prices we anticipate a jump in milk collection as farmers will get enough cash to rear cattle.”According to the association, the collection of milk in summers has dropped to close to 12 lakh litres as against the average production of 13 lakh litres during the same months in previous years. The demand of milk in the region is about 12-12.5 lakh litres.Suppliers said the production of milk in the region has dropped since past two years due to higher cost of rearing led by cattle fodder.MP State Cooperative Dairy Federation that markets packaged milk Sanchi is not hiking milk prices but has stopped selling outstations to build inventories for summers.A N Dwivedi, Chief Executive Officer, Indore Cooperative Dugdh Sangh said, “We are not increasing milk prices but we are now focusing on building stocks of powder and butter. We are building stocks so as to keep us prepare to meet the demand of the state in summers if milk collection continues to drop.”According to Indore Cooperative Dugdh Sangh, daily milk collection is around 3.35 lakh litres, which is about 15 per cent down than previous years. Daily milk consumption is 2.35 lakh litres and the additional supplies are converted into powder and butter.Present stock of white butter and milk powder is around 320 MT butter and 110 MT respectively.