BEIJING - China’s three main milk producers will raise the price of some dairy products by as much as 10 percent, Beijing Times reports.

Mengniu, Yili and Sanyuan brands say they will only implement the price hike in the capital Beijing on certain products from Jan 1, 2012.

The increase, expected to be 0.2 yuan on a 250 ml carton, comes just days after China’s biggest dairy company saw their shares plummet after tests on Mengniu milk discovered twice the accepted level of a cancer-causing agent.

The newspaper, citing sources from Yili, claims the rise is due to the fluctuating price of raw materials.

But Wang Dingmian, a diary industry analyst, said labor costs and transport fees are responsible for the increase, not the cost of raw materials.