Prescription milk powder supplies in crises after Chinese diagous buy up reserves

  • Australian parents are furious after not finding prescription baby formula
  • Issue has been going on for months as parents drive hours to find the formula
  • Hannah Goland doesn’t have enough baby formula for her six-month-old son 
  • The hoarding of milk formula began after the contamination in China in 2008 

Australian parents are furious after not being able to find prescription baby formula that won’t trigger their child’s milk allergy or intolerance.

The issue has been going on for months as parents drive to shops around the city, or two hours away to find pharmacies with stock, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.  

Melbourne mother Hannah Goland, does not have enough of the baby formula to last her until Friday for her six-month-old son Archer.

Australian parents are furious after not being able to find prescription baby formula that won’t trigger their child’s milk allergy or intolerance

Bags of baby formula tins bought by Chinese diagous being prepped to be sent over to China

Bags of baby formula tins bought by Chinese diagous being prepped to be sent over to China

Ms Goland is scared of not being able to find the formula her son needs by tomorrow saying there is no backup option except for taking him to the hospital.

‘There’s no backup option. The government needs to do something,’ she told Sydney Morning Herald.    

Chinese shoppers who hoard and send the tins over to their friend and family, or to make a bit of a profit are known as Diagou. 

Australia China Diagou Association, is a website allowing Australian’s to connect with people in China to provide ‘Australian brands with cost effective marketing sales.’ 

Baby formula typically sells for $20 a tin in Australia but can fetch more than triple that in mainland China where they are in much higher demand. 

Baby formula typically sells for $20 a tin in Australia but can fetch more than triple that in mainland China where they are in much higher demand

Baby formula typically sells for $20 a tin in Australia but can fetch more than triple that in mainland China where they are in much higher demand

Chinese shoppers hoarding baby formula tins began around 2008 when there was a contamination by melamine with Chinese baby formula which killed six babies and made another 300,000 ill, the BBC reported. 

After the contamination incident, there was a soar of Chinese families wanting Australian baby formula, which eventually led to the hoarding. 

Woolworths and Coles have also placed a limit of four tins per person however, there is no limit on how many times a person can come back to the supermarket and buy another round of tins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

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