Roundup: Kleinpeter to lower milk prices … Europe faces Easter egg quandary

Sweet milk: Kleinpeter dairy opened April with a nine-cent reduction on the price it charges stores for a gallon of milk. Kleinpeter says it’s the second price drop in three months, following a six-cent drop in February. The price declines are due to increased efficiencies at the company. When the price of raw milk drops, the federal government does not require milk processors like Kleinpeter to pass cost savings along to the stores, but company president Jeff Kleinpeter says he hopes stores will in turn pass along the savings to consumers. The high price of pastels: Easter egg painting has become something of a luxury for European children this year as the egg industry has been hit by the European Union’s new requirements for bigger, more animal-friendly cages for hens. The changes have limited production and, combined with high feed costs, boosted consumer prices—sometimes by as much as three times typical prices of recent years. Get the full story from The Associated Press here.