HK's two-can limit on milk powder is temporary: Deputies

As the National People's Congress (NPC) gets underway in Beijing, the milk powder topic has become a heated discussion posed to the Hong Kong deputies, Beijing Times reports.

According to the report, Hong Kong deputies on Wednesday insisted their new rules on milk powder limit are temporary and they were designed to prevent unscrupulous traders from disrupting Hong Kong's milk market.

Hong Kong banned people from taking more than two cans of milk powder (about 1.8 kg in total) outside the Special Administrative Region since March 1 and offenders face a maximum fine of 500,000 HK dollars (64,450 US dollars) and up to two years' jail.

The restrictions also met with criticism from some Hong Kong deputies and delegates, with NPC deputy Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai calling on the Hong Kong government to review the policy of restricting mainlanders to two cans of milk powder.

NPC deputy Tam Wai-Chu, the head of Hong Kong deputies and member of Legislative Council of Hong Kong, said the two-can limit on milk powder was temporary in order to clear the milk industry's supply chain, and the rule is in accordance with a relative clause of the World Trade Organization.

Michael Tien, another deputy from Hong Kong, suggested constructing a HK-mainland buy-sell network to better structure the milk market.