A nondescript warehouse tucked down the back of an industrial estate has revealed the full extent of China’s insatiable thirst for Australian baby formula.
Tonnes of ‘white gold’ – from leading brands Aptamil and A2 – were among hundreds of pallets found inside the warehouse at Silverwater, in Sydney’s west, on Tuesday.
From there, thousands of tins are packaged and indirectly shipped to China, as well as being distributed locally, despite limits imposed by supermarkets on how much customers can buy off their shelves in Australia.
Top Warehouse, the business behind the warehouse, said it did not ‘directly sell baby formula overseas’, claiming it was just a ‘middle-man’ and didn’t ask customers about where its products ended up.
But a former worker at the factory told Daily Mail Australia huge shipments are sent to China ‘on a daily basis’.
A woman arrives at a warehouse in western Sydney to collect a large load of baby formula from a supplier (pictured). It’s understood thousands of the tins of baby formula will end up in China
While observing their operation on Tuesday, Daily Mail Australia witnessed dozens of vehicles arrive at the warehouse to be loaded up with baby formula (pictured)
The enormous demand from the Chinese market has seen Australian shoppers limited to being able to buy two tins at a time from supermarket shelves
While observing their operation on Tuesday, Daily Mail Australia witnessed dozens of vehicles arrive at the warehouse to be loaded up with baby formula.
It’s understood many of those collecting baby formula were owners of Asian grocers and duty free stores across the city.
These stores then sell the products to Chinese tourists to take on the plane home with them.
Mike Chen, manager at Top Warehouse, said that where the formula ended up once it left the warehouse really wasn’t the company’s concern.
‘Basically what we do is we take the order off the customers and we give them what we get in from Aptamil,’ Mr Chen said.
‘Mainly, we are selling to local businesses… I believe (but) we’re not going to ask and they are not going to tell us about where their product is going.’
Aptamil Australia’s parent company Danone refused to discuss the warehouse’s mass distribution or if it regulated the supply to Chinese markets.
‘We don’t disclose information about our commercial relationships which are confidential in nature,’ a spokeswoman for Danone said.
Tonnes of ‘white gold’ – from leading brands Aptamil and A2 – were among hundreds of pallets found inside the warehouse (pictured) at Silverwater, in Sydney’s west, on Tuesday
It’s understood many of those collecting baby formula were owners of Asian grocers and duty free stores across the city, where they are later on sold to Chinese tourists to take home
Two men seemingly discuss their large order of a pallet of baby formula with the manager of Top Warehouse
After minutes of discussion the pallet is loaded into their van and they drive away, set to sell it to China
A worker at a neighbouring business inside the industrial estate said the warehouse had popped up in recent months and was constantly distributing baby formula.
Similar warehouses to this one are reportedly located all over Australia.
Professional Asian shoppers raiding shelves at Coles, Woolworths and other stores across the country have become common place in recent years.
While it’s legal, the practice has left Australian parents outraged at their now reduced access to the once freely accessible product.
So enormous is the demand from China that Aptamil has increased its production of its formula by 50 per cent in the past three months.
A worker at a neighbouring business inside said the warehouse had popped up in the past two months and was constantly distributing baby formula
A large pallet full of a2 baby formula is loaded by Top Warehouse staff onto the back of a truck
Some international shoppers are happy to pay prices marked up to 1000 per cent, so sought after is the high quality milk powder
Earlier this year Woolworths announced it would be sending its homebrand products to China, feeding the endless appetite of the nation.
Some international shoppers are happy to pay prices marked up to 1000 per cent, so sought after is the high quality milk powder.
While Mr Chen admitted he was aware of the controversy surrounding the demand for baby formula overseas, he said their deal with Aptamil restricted who they sold to.
‘OK, so I watch the news and maybe some of the businesses go in and grab the stuff from the supermarket (shelves),’ he said.
‘First, we are not doing anything with the supermarket. We only do business with the local gift (duty free) shops and we are not having any problem with them.
‘We are not stocking huge amounts of stuff back to China, we are not doing that. We distribute to all the gift shops and distribute to all the customers we can find out in.’
But despite claims by the company that the products are being kept local, it appears that’s not always the case.
Daily Mail Australia witnessed baby formula being taken to a distributor for AuLinkC.com, a website (pictured) selling products straight to Chinese buyers
This comes despite claims by Top Warehouse management that they only sell products to local buyers. There is no limit on the amount of baby formula that can be bought by overseas buyers
A delivery van sits outside the warehouse, waiting to be loaded up with baby formula for one of the many daily trips
Top Warehouse management admitted he was aware of conjecture surrounding the demand for baby formula overseas, but said their deal with Aptamil restricted who they sell to
Daily Mail Australia followed a Top Warehouse truck full of Aptamil baby powder as it left the industrial estate on Tuesday afternoon.
Just minutes later it pulled up at another warehouse streets away where the driver of the truck unloaded the boxes into a storage facility.
That garage belonged to AuLinkC.com, a website selling Australian products such as baby formula, Ugg boots and other health products directly to Chinese buyers.
Despite a supermarket imposed limit on how much can be bought in Australia, there is seemingly no rules on how many tins of baby formula Chinese buyers can order.
Despite a supermarket imposed limit on how much can be bought in Australia, there is seemingly no rules on how many tins of baby formula Chinese buyers can order