HK To Keep Milk Powder Export Limit In Place

The government says it will maintain its restrictions on the amount of baby milk formula that can be taken out of Hong Kong, after finding that the cross-border parallel trading of such products is “still persistent”.

The Food and Health Bureau said in a statement on Monday that the decision was made after it reviewed the market situation and considered stakeholders' views.

It said the number of convictions for breaches of the limit has hovered at around 3,800 per year since 2016, with no downward trend in sight.

The bureau also noted that the volume of milk formula re-exported from Hong Kong via normal trading has increased significantly since the implementation of the export controls in 2013.

“We expect that the potential non-local demand for powdered formulae in the local market will remain huge,” a spokesman said.

“The export control has a significant role in safeguarding the stable supply of powdered formulae at local retail outlets,” the spokesman added. “There are no other measures which can easily replace the export control at this stage.”

The export ban was announced by former Chief Executive CY Leung after local parents complained that parallel traders had snapped up stocks of milk powder from across the territory. The restriction allows people to take no more than two cans of milk formula with them when they leave Hong Kong.

In her policy address two years ago, Chief Executive Carrie Lam had said that the government would be reviewing the policy.

Lam Wai-man, chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Pharmacy, said the decision to keep the limit in place will create tension between locals and mainlanders and will damage Hong Kong's reputation as a free trading hub.