Experts predict increased milk costs

DETROIT, June 24 (UPI) -- Industry experts predict the cost of milk could reach $4.50 a gallon in some U.S. cities this year, thanks to growing demand for ethanol fuel.

Experts said that due to the new practice of using the gasoline additive to limit the U.S. dependence on foreign oil, culinary products such as milk will soon have their costs drastically increased by distributors, the Detroit Free Press reported Sunday.

National Milk Producers Federation spokesman Chris Galen said ethanol usage has led to higher costs for corn and wheat products, which in turn affects the cost of other products.

"When you have high petroleum costs, you have high fertilizer costs, but the more predominant factor has been the run-up in the cost of corn," he said. "That is due almost exclusively by the competition of the ethanol industry with livestock producers for a finite amount of corn."

Dairy farmers also have said rising energy costs have forced them to increase the prices at which they sell their products to distributors, the newspaper reported.