The New Brunswick Farm Products Commission announced Friday the minimum price consumers pay for a litre of white milk will increase by one cent on Feb. 1.
The commission attributed the price increase to higher payroll, energy, packaging and ingredients costs to dairy processors.
The hike is another in a string of consecutive increases, totalling 9.4 cents since 2014.
The price of milk was raised by one cent in 2017, four cents in 2016, 1.4 cents in 2015 and three cents in 2014.
School milk
Pricing for the school milk program will not change for the rest of the 2017-18 school year.
The commission noted in a release the school program is subsidized by dairy producers and processors by about $1 million annually.
“New Brunswick dairy producers and processors supply about one million litres of milk to kindergarten to Grade 12 students each year,” said commission chairman Bob Shannon, who could not be immediately reached for comment Friday evening, in a statement.
The commission represents producers, processors and consumers and is responsible for setting the price of fluid milk products in New Brunswick.