News

Mums running out of prescription baby formula amid Chinese buyer frenzy

Apr 27, 2018

The issue is getting out of hand.

For years, Chinese buyers have been hoarding tins of baby formula to sell back home for a profit, stripping shelves bare in shops across Australia.

But now the problem has escalated, and some mothers are panicking as they face not being able to find prescription powders for kids who suffer from milk allergies or intolerances.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, some mums are having to drive hours to find pharmacies with the right formula in stock, as all the stores near their homes are sold out.

Melbourne mother Hannah Goland revealed to the publication she came within hours of running out of formula for her six-month-old son Archer on Thursday. He relies on a single brand, Alfamino, that won’t trigger his serious milk allergy, as well as hives and an anaphylactic reaction.

“There’s no backup option. I guess if a tin doesn’t come through, I’ll have to take him to hospital,” she told the newspaper.

While a high demand from Chinese buyers has already seriously affected mainstream supplies of baby formula in Australia, it’s now moved into the prescription market, with suppliers reportedly saying they’ve been overrun by customers buying stock up to sell overseas.

Archie’s formula brand Alfamino can be found on Chinese website Taobao, among other brands, selling at $70. While many have to prove where they were bought, one listing for Alfamino showed a receipt for 27 tins in one exchange.

“The government needs to do something,” Goland added.

Elsewhere, another desperate mum Ashleigh Buchanan told the publication she is forced to drive a six-hour round trip from Merredin in country Western Australia to Perth to get her baby’s monthly prescription for Aptamil Gold Pepti Junior, for children with a cows’ milk allergy.

Meanwhile, another mum Jade Smith recently ran out of Alfare for her six-month-old son Francis, and had to borrow some from another mother in a social media group she was part of. However, it was only enough to get through the night, and she then reportedly drove two hours the next day to buy more.

It comes after the Herald Sun released footage of a Melbourne chemist opening its doors under the cover of dark to let a long line of Chinese shoppers snap up the formula before anyone else got a chance.

The issue got so bad at one point last year that Coles and Woolworths were forced to put a two-unit per customer limit on tins of formula — a rule that’s still in place today.

Pauline Hanson recently joined the growing chorus of Aussies calling for action, and told Sunrise that her own daughter had difficulty finding formula for her new son because Chinese shoppers had raided the shelves.

“I know there is a big problem Australia wide because a lot of chemists are really limiting it to one or maybe two tins per customer, which I think is fair,” the One Nation leader said.

“A lot of the Chinese here also are sending in their children are young as four to buy tens. It is a big problem.

“Someone should jump in and manufacture more and export to China. A lot of foreign students are doing it. They are using it as extra income. They are selling it back to China.

“It is a big problem and I feel sorry for the mothers here who have trouble getting formula as my daughter did.”