HK may lift ban on formula purchase after one year (2)

Hong Kong: may cancel the limit after one year

Many Hong Kong Legislative Council members say that the shortage just happened before and after the Lunar New Year, questioning the need for legislative amendments. Mrs Marion Lai Chan Chi-kuen, Permanent Secretary for Food and Health, said that the government will continue to work with the traders and wholesalers to improve the supply chain, observe the supply during "demand peak", which is before and after the Golden Week and Chinese New Year, so it will take at least one year to consider whether to cancel the relevant legislation.

Ko Wing-man, Secretary of the Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau, proposed that only if milk suppliers can further improve the replenishment mechanism in the future, to add booking services at the retail stores, and allow the public to order formula in small pharmacies, as well as add supply and ensure sufficient manpower to cope with the rising demand, to ensure adequate supply in Hong Kong, will the Government consider abolishing the restrictions on milk powder.

Infant formula company Mead Johnson suggested that as during every Lunar New Year, Hong Kong will sell more than 400,000 cans of powdered milk, the government can implement limit just four weeks before the Lunar New Year holidays, so the problem can be solved.

Traders and wholesalers in Hong Kong also suggested that Hong Kong can take measures such as expanding the Lo Wu Railway Station, and open supermarket at the station to sell milk powder and other popular goods, so the mainland residents would not have to come to Hong Kong just for some goods, and this can prevent them from affecting the daily lives of the people of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong government’s new regulation, starting from March 1, allows a person leaving the city to carry a maximum of two cans, or 1.8 kilograms, of infant formula. Such a person has to be aged 16 years or above and must not have left the city in the last 24 hours. And though offenders face a fine of up to 500,000 HK dollars (64,469 U.S. dollars) and two years in jail, 45 people were detained for violating the limit on the first two days of the month alone.

Lack of faith in dairy products’ quality is forcing mainland customers to make a beeline for dairy products in Hong Kong.