Rupee appreciates by 2 paise to 83.30 against US dollar in early trade The rupee edged up by 2 paise to 83.30 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday amid a correction in crude oil prices and gains in local equities. The US currency also weakened against its major global rivals which supported the rupee sentiment despite FII outflows, forex dealers said. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.30 against the US dollar, showing a rise of 2 paise over the last close. The unit had closed at 83.32 on Wednesday. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.17 per cent down at 103.74. On the domestic equity market front, Sensex rose by 145.86 points or 0.22 per cent to 66,169.10 points in early trade. The Nifty50 advanced 48.70 points or 0.25 per cent to 19,860.55. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Wednesday as they sold shares worth Rs 306.56 crore, according to exchange data.
Retail inflation in milk was reported at 8.85% in May 2023. The milk inflation has remained elevated at over 6% since August 2022. Despite India being the largest milk producer since 1998, the commodity has been the second biggest factor after cereals such as rice and wheat in driving up retail inflation in the last fiscal.
Milk has the second highest weight in the food and beverages basket of the consumer price index at 6.61%, a notch lower than cereals and products with a 9.67% weight. Organised players, including Mother Dairy and Amul, hiked prices multiple times in the last one year citing higher fodder cost, robust demand and some impact due to reports of lumpy skin disease.
Industry sources said feed cost, which has a share of more than 65% in the cost of production of milk, has increased to Rs 20/kg from Rs 8 a year ago. The finance ministry in April had attributed the elevated milk inflation to a demand supply mismatch and said it could be one of the factors apart from volatile international crude oil prices and constrained supplies of milk would influence the country’s inflation trajectory.
“Milk production has been impacted by a lumpy skin disease infecting millions of cattle in late 2022,” the ministry said in the monthly economic review, adding that the vaccination drive against the disease is expected to curb the spread and immune the cattle against the skin disease.
According to official data, currently India is the world’s largest milk producer, and has a share of 23% in global milk production. For the first time in decades, the country’s milk production is likely to have stagnated in 2022-23 due to Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle across several states and the lagged effect of Covid-19 in the form of stunting of the animals, a senior official with department of animal husbandry and dairying recently had stated. The milk production was estimated at 221 million tonne in 2021-22.