Thiruvananthapuram: The price of Milma milk packets will rise from Wednesday.

While the price of Milma Rich sold in green packets will increase from Rs 29 to Rs 31, price of Milma Smart in yellow packets will rise from Rs 24 to Rs 25.

The price of blue packets, which is the most consumed version in the state, will however remain the same.

Meanwhile, Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Milk Co-operatives J Chinchu Rani said that she was unaware about the development.

"There is no reason to hike the milk price now. Will seek an explanation from Milma," the Minister said.

The price hike is a result of the Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation's (Milma) new scheme called 'Repositioning Milma'. The scheme intends to implement uniform packaging, design, quality, price and weight of Milma products across the state to improve the brand image.

The price of Milma milk packets were increased by Rs 6 per litre last December. The authorities have argued that  the price was not increased but consolidated this time around.The prices of Milma Rich and Smart had remained unchanged during the December hike.

Milma Chairman KS Mani had earlier informed that milk, curd, ghee and flavored milk products are included in the project in the first phase. At present, the packaging, weight and price of non-milk products produced by the three sector-wise unions are not uniform. Milma had started work on implementing uniformity a year ago. The project aims to expand the presence of Milma on a competitive basis including the international market.