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The Permanent Secretary for Food and Health (Food), Mrs Marion Lai, today (December 19) met with representatives of seven major powdered formula suppliers, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Pharmacy Limited and major chain stores, urging the trade to ensure sufficient supply of powdered formula for local infants and young children in the run-up to Christmas and Lunar New Year.
The Food and Health Bureau (FHB) noted with concern that there was a tight supply of certain brands of powdered formula recently. At the meeting, the FHB urged the trade to actively follow up on the recommendations on improving the supply chain of powdered formula proposed by the consultancy firm commissioned by the Government. The FHB also requested the suppliers to get fully-prepared in the run-up to Christmas and Lunar New Year to ensure sufficient supply of powdered formula, especially to accord priority in meeting the demand of local infants and young children.
Upon request of the Government, the suppliers reported the progress in implementing the recommendations on improving the supply chain. They stressed that they had reserved sufficient stock for local infants and young children to cope with orders from various pre-ordering channels. They had also strengthened supporting measures, including delivery on a daily basis when required and boosting the manpower for manning the hotlines so that all calls from customers can be returned within 24 hours. If a supplier fails to fulfil this pledge, it will activate the mechanism to gear up its hotline service immediately.
"The seven major suppliers provide various pre-order services. Apart from joining the Coupon Scheme, parents of local infants and young children can place orders through suppliers' hotlines to receive home delivery or to collect powdered formula at chain stores. Parents may consider making good use of these channels to purchase in good time appropriate amount of powdered formula," the spokesman for the FHB said.
As Christmas and Lunar New Year are approaching, the FHB appealed to the suppliers to take the opportunity to launch a promotion campaign for the Coupon Scheme, which serves as a "safety net for supply", as soon as possible.
The suppliers said that they had already started promoting their various pre-order services, covering the detailed operation of the Coupon Scheme, its application method, and the information of participating pharmacies, through placing advertisements in the media. They had also designed a logo for the scheme which would shortly be displayed conspicuously at participating pharmacies. The FHB reminded the Hong Kong General Chamber of Pharmacy Limited that participating pharmacies had to do the gate-keeping work properly so as to ensure that local infants and young children can benefit from the scheme.
The Government is also very concerned about recent media reports that a pharmacy has marked up the price of powdered formula substantially. At the meeting, the relevant powdered formula supplier reported that appropriate actions had been taken against the pharmacy.
The FHB stressed at the meeting that individual retailers should not mark up the price substantially for profiteering, which would affect the supply. The FHB urged the suppliers to keep a close watch on such unscrupulous practice and take appropriate actions when necessary.
To safeguard local supply and prevent parallel traders from diverting powdered formula away from the supply chain in Hong Kong, the Customs and Excise Department will strengthen its enforcement actions against parallel trading activities. Since the enactment of the Import and Export (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2013 on March 1 and up till November 30, a total of 2,511 persons have been convicted and fined, involving 13,241 kilogrammes of powdered formula. The level of fines ranged from $200 to $27,000.
The FHB will continue to closely monitor the supply of powdered formula and maintain close liaison with the trade to ensure sufficient supply of powdered formula for local infants and young children.
Ends/Thursday, December 19, 2013
Issued at HKT 21:01
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