Chinese buying up all the baby milk !

I’d have thought the shops would make the most of the increased business and order extra stock,

Apparently they can’t keep up with it River and the lady said if they had space to put 10,000 on the shelf they would clear them !

look at this

Not just this country.

I can't believe it's happening in this country as well. Australia have had this for years and there have been shortages there. In their news it shows the Chinese wheeling trolley loads of the formula to their cars, then showing completely empty shelves.

They're called daigaus. They are paid to buy and ship to China. It must cost Chinese mums a fortune. Shipping to China is extortionately expensive.

The reason Chinese mums want western baby milk is because Chinese baby milk is often contaminated with melamine.

Yes, if the shops know there is this demand why DON'T they just stock more? Such common sense.

However, there is no need to buy brand name baby milk anyway. European baby milk ingredients must by law follow a standard recipe, only 1% or so can be varied.

My grandson used to have a Dutch brand when we were living in Spain but he moved seamlessly over to Aldi's own when we moved back to the UK. The health visitor told us about the ingredient regulations and pointed out there was no point shelling out for an expensive brand that had exactly the same ingredients as a budget one.

OMG Gonegirl so it’s everywhere with a high Chinese population ! The problem is they have the buying power in Newcastle as they run most of the restaurants , Casinos etc. Spending £100’s per day on baby forums will be nothing . Very selfish though when ordinary young mums can’t even get one box !

See my post up thread GagaJo they said they would buy it all up no matter how much they stocked !

“Baby forums” ? Not yet I hope . Baby formula !

I live in Newcastle gillybob (Forest Hall-you?). Grandson and daughter live with me. Never had any problems getting grandson' milk.

I guess you're talking city centre. We grocery shop near home.

Don't remember either of my GCs having baby milk. Straight from breast to cow's. I shall look in my local Boots next time I'm there. Not all the Chinese in Newcastle own Restaurants etc a great number are students and some aren't even Chinese but Korean. I'm local as well.

The whole thing sounds wonderful: local shops making huge profits; UK milk producers rushing to fulfill massive repeat orders; Chinese babies getting milk which doesn't kill them and British exporters of milk having a booming market in China.
What's not to like?

Even the racists are having a field day

The Chinese mothers must be paying way over the odds for their milk. I wonder what happens to the babies in poorer families.

I'd never heard of this happening. You learn something new every day.

I'm aghast! I've never heard of this, it's not good for local mum's who need it.
Never had a problem as mine were breast fed & my GS was breast fed too.
Tricia x

My daughter didn't have baby milk either. Breast milk all the way. But... different mums, different choices.

BradfordLass72, exactly. Market forces. I'm sure Cow & Gate, Aptimil and SMA are more than capable of meeting demand. Shops just need to allow for constant restocking. They too make a profit after all. Hire shelf stockers to work during store opening times, not just for after closing.

I guess poorer Chinese, e.g. average mums, breast feed. Certainly I've seen mums in Shanghai breast feeding on the metro there. No one bats an eye. Must therefore be standard.

Storm in a tea cup Tricia. Newcastles babies have milk. Worry not.

local shops having a field day

What - Boots?

Should have said local shops making a huge proft

Boots are doing just fine in the profit making department.

Can't believe breast v formula has entered into this.

Gagajo just to say bottle feeding isn't always a choice, I can vouch for that ?

I was disappointed my daughter wasn't keen on breast feeding. I worked SO hard at it with her as a baby. But... each to their own.

And there's plenty of formula available in Newcastle. Grandsons never had to go without (he's half Chinese - hope he's allowed!?.

Some of the press coverage in Australia was disgraceful - it’s not as though they’re stealing the stuff!

People could always buy off Amazon

I'm tempted to add this to the "good news about Brexit" thread. I thought we were supposed to be looking for opportunities to trade with non-EU countries.

There are about 1.4 billion Chinese, so if even only 1% of them are rich enough to buy Western baby milk, that's still 14,000,000 of them. Sounds like the baby milk manufacturers are on to a winner.

Minniemoo, yes, I don't know why the daigaus don't already.

Very good point growstuff

Can't believe breast v formula has entered into this. hmm

Me neither Gonegirl but not entirely surprised ! Any excuse for a dig eh?